


i dreamt of you all summer long

by moonsongthemarauder



Series: we were something don't you think so? [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Album: folklore (Taylor Swift), Angst, Based on a Taylor Swift Song, Drama, F/M, First Love, Harry Potter Next Generation, Pining, Romance, Song: betty (Taylor Swift), Teen Romance, so much pining, some pining for scorose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:41:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 26,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28057812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonsongthemarauder/pseuds/moonsongthemarauder
Summary: And Scorpius suddenly found himself hoping that one day, in the future, he and Rose would be good for each other again.A story about the ones who never lose the spot in our hearts.
Relationships: Scorpius Malfoy/Rose Weasley
Series: we were something don't you think so? [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1878040
Comments: 8
Kudos: 44





	1. i don't know anything

**Author's Note:**

> based on 'betty' from Taylor Swift's album, folklore.

In the month following Inez’s birthday, Scorpius had done exactly as Rose asked and not talked to her. While he was already doing that, Rose had made sure they always had distance between them, even going as far to switch her seat in Transfiguration, telling McGonagall she was having trouble seeing the board from her spot next to Scorpius. In what was a shock to Scorpius, McGonagall had actually allowed Rose to move seats, leaving him sitting next to a Gryffindor from their year instead.

While he knew he shouldn’t have minded, really he should have been grateful that Rose was no longer sitting next to him, Scorpius actually found that he missed Rose. And while Rose did in fact start wearing glasses when she had to look at the board, making him think that she was being truthful about being unable to see the board, he couldn’t help but think it was also to have space from him.

It was also hard not to notice that there appeared to be a shift in Rose and Graham’s relationship. While they were definitely still together, Scorpius felt as though Graham wasn’t putting nearly as much effort in as he used to; he didn’t appear as enamored in Rose as he used to, nor did Rose seem to be putting in any effort to be affectionate with him like she had before. If anything, it almost seemed like they were just friends, besides the fact that they still held hands and would kiss occasionally.

While this could mean that they were settling into their relationship, Scorpius couldn’t ignore a gut feeling he had that something had changed in their relationship, and not necessarily for the better. Scorpius couldn’t put his finger on what though.

And now, he was sitting next to one of Hogwarts’s resident gossip lovers who also happened to be friends with each of them.

“Mi, we have to set up a mail order system,” Inez said to Mila, who was sitting across from her. “Especially if we can’t find a space to rent for a while.”

“There is that location in Diagon Alley!” Mila said.

“Which is incredibly out of our price range,” Inez said.

“Inez, we have to take that risk,” Mila said, putting some vegetables on her plate. “Diagon Alley is the place to be and the location is right near the center of the Alley where most people go, not to mention that it has a backyard where you could grow things. We could also live above it!”

Scorpius frowned, looking up from the Charms essay he was working on. “Wait which—”

“I know it’s the perfect building,” Inez said. “I want to take that risk but even in the best-case scenario of sales, we would barely break even with that rent.”

“Come on, Grandma said she would help out,” Mila said. “Let’s take it—”

“I don’t want to take Grandma’s money,” Inez said. “I’m the one choosing to open a business instead of you know, actually going to work and I need to do it myself.”

“But the building is perfect,” Mila said. “Things like that don’t come up often.”

“I know,” Inez said sighing. “But maybe if we looked elsewhere, like Hogsmeade or Godric’s Hollow we could find something more affordable and then eventually expand to Diagon Alley.”

Mila slumped over slightly in her seat at Inez’s words.

“Look I know we would both rather live in London right now but…I don’t think it’s worth it at this point,” Inez said.

Mila bit her lip. “Well, I could get another job, I mean you’re the main creator of the stuff—”

“Yes, but you’re my partner and do all the marketing,” Inez said. “Creating the face creams and potions is nothing without someone there marketing them to help people buy them.”

Mila sighed. “Okay. Well let’s look elsewhere.”

“One day you will live in a flat in London, don’t worry Mi,” Inez said, smiling.

“Not to interrupt or intrude,” Scorpius said. “But which building are you talking about in Diagon Alley?”

“Why?” Inez said with a smirk. “Do you somehow own it?”

Scorpius shrugged. “It’s possible, depending on the building.”

Inez sat up straight and looked at him with wide eyes.

“You own a building?” Mila asked, looking confused. “I dated you for three years; how did I not know this?”

“You two weren’t exactly combining finances at 15,” Inez said. “Not to mention you guys were never together long enough to actually talk about it, probably.”

Mila glared at Inez. “That’s rude.”

“Is it untrue?” Inez said to which Mila just looked back at Scorpius, ignoring her cousin’s comment.

“So, you own a building?” Mila asked.

“Maybe,” Scorpius said. “What’s the address?”

“1319,” Inez said, her eyes looking hopeful.

Scorpius thought for a second. “I think that’s one of them.”

“One of them?” Mila asked, but Scorpius could barely hear her over Inez.

“So, if that is one that you own,” Inez said. “Is there some sort of way we would lower rent for the first year? We can pay you back later. Or would you like some sort of larger loan?”

“So, it’s my dad’s building, technically,” Scorpius corrected her. “But I can ask him about it. I can’t make promises though.”

“Of course not!” Inez said. “And I’m not expecting anything. I normally wouldn’t ask but…it’s the perfect location.”

Scorpius smiled at her. “I’ll ask him. If he says he can’t do anything he knows some other people who own property throughout England who might be able to help you find a place.”

Inez smiled at him brightly before looking back at Mila. “I take back every time I ever called him an arse.”

Scorpius frowned at her, before taking another bite of his chicken and returning to editing his paper.

“So, Inez, any news on the love life front?” Mila asked.

Inez sighed. “No. I’ve been too busy trying to find a place to open the apothecary after graduation that fortunately, I haven’t had time to focus on it.”

“That’s good,” Mila said. “And you’re okay with…your friends still?”

Although Scorpius was looking down at his paper, he felt Mila’s eyes glance over to him briefly.

“Oh yeah, of course,” Inez said. “Although…things have been kind of…weird between them.”

“Weird how?” Mila asked. Scorpius, for what it was worth, was trying hard not to listen, but found that he had stopped reading his essay all together in order to hear Inez’s answer.

“One obvious way is that Graham isn’t needing to hold her constantly,” Inez said. “Which I’m grateful for. I can actually talk to Rose now.”

Mila chuckled.

“I don’t know, ever since my party something changed. It’s almost like both have them have just been on autopilot,” Inez said, she bit her potato. “I don’t know. I don’t pay too much attention but something has changed. Layla and I think they’ll break up soon, because it’s basically like they’re just friends.”

“Hmmm, interesting,” Mila mumbled. Scorpius felt her look at him and he read the final sentence for a third time before correcting a spelling error and looking up at her.

Mila gave him a smile and looked away, looking back towards where Rose and Graham sat, talking to Albus who sat across from them.

“Maybe she’s just not into him,” Mila said flatly, watching them. “Maybe she never was.”

Inez rolled her eyes. “Mila, I know you don’t like Rose for no reason, but she wouldn’t use him. That’s not who she is.”

Mila bit her lip, clearly not convinced. “I guess you would know her better than I do.”

“Not many people out there know her better than me,” Inez said. “Albus, maybe Layla. But besides that, not many others.”

Scorpius felt his stomach clench and he had to restrain himself from saying what was on his mind.

He knew her better than others. He should be included in that small list.

But he didn’t say anything. While Inez went on to share with Mila a rumor about a Gryffindor sixth year, Scorpius sat there, staring at his essay, all the small facts he knew about Rose running through his brain and wondering if there would be a time when he would forget all the facts he knew about her.

* * *

Rose and Graham broke up in mid-May, though it appeared that nothing had changed overall. They still ate together, hung out, and everything.

Scorpius couldn’t help but wonder who initiated the break up.

In the days following their break up, he had caught Rose looking at him during Charms and it was as if the air had been pushed out of his lungs. He stared back at her, meeting her eyes for the first time in months.

Rose gave him a small smile and looked down at her notes, but Scorpius couldn’t help but notice that her cheeks turned pink.

Scorpius had been in a daze the rest of the class period, sneaking glances at Rose to see if she was looking at him, but she never was. But that one look, while he couldn’t breathe at first, almost felt as if he was given new hope that maybe, just maybe, Rose would give him another chance.

That maybe, she was the one who initiated the break up with Graham. Because she wanted to be with Scorpius.

“What are you so giddy about?” Declan asked as they left class and Scorpius was unable to contain his smile.

“Nothing,” Scorpius said. “Just happy that it’s a Friday.”

Declan smiled at him, laughing slightly. “Okay then. Well, it’s nice to see you smiling again.”

It felt nice to smile again. Especially when it was because of Rose.

* * *

“Mate, I honestly don’t think this is a good idea,” Declan said, looking at Scorpius.

“Why not?” Scorpius asked.

“Because something tells me that attempting to rekindle things with Rose might be better off not done at one of the last parties of Hogwarts,” Declan said, motioning around the room. “How do you even know she’s coming to this? This isn’t really her scene.”

“Because Al is throwing this party,” Scorpius said, nodding over to where Al was grabbing a drink at the bar.

“And?”

“And cousin loyalty requires that she comes,” Scorpius said, remembering their conversation last summer. “She told me so.”

“Ah,” Declan said. “Well, I still don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Think what is a good idea?” Erica said, appearing at Declan’s side and wrapping an arm around his waist. “Scorpius, hopefully you have convinced him that taking an Auror job in Ireland is not a good idea when we are all in London.”

Mila, who came up with Erica, shook her head. “Erica, I highly doubt that’s what they were talking about.”

“It wasn’t,” Declan said, giving Erica a kiss on the head. “Sorry love.”

“Boooo,” Erica said. “Albus! Convince Declan here not to go to Ireland!”

Albus who had been walking towards them from the bar, stopped next to Mila. “Sorry, Erica, can’t do that. Dad was very excited to post Declan there.”

“Why couldn’t you have gotten that post and Declan gotten your post?” Erica said, hugging Declan. “It’s not fair.”

“To be fair, Al isn’t posted in London either,” Mila said. Al looked at her and gave her a small smile.

“No, I will be in Liverpool,” Albus said. “The only perk is that I can commute from my parents’ house while I am in training.”

“Merlin, I can’t wait to move out of my parents’ house,” Erica said wistfully, before she perked up. “Oh, Mila, I found a couch that I want your and Inez’s okay on before I buy it for our place.”

“Okay, I’ll let Inez know,” Mila said.

“When is the big move in day?” Declan asked.

“About a week after graduation,” Mila said. “And the store opens a week after that.”

“Is Inez excited?” Scorpius asked.

“Yes and no,” Mila said. “She’s excited that she gets to open her store in her dream location and constantly is going on about how eternally grateful she is to you Scorpius for making that happen.”

Scorpius chuckled. “My dad is the one that did everything, not me.”

“But she is also having panic attacks constantly about every single detail,” Mila said. “She is the smartest person I know but also has a panic attack over where to put a light. I’m starting to wonder if large amounts of anxiety is a secondary requirement to be in Ravenclaw.”

“Certain Ravenclaws would definitely have you think that,” Albus said. “Between Rose and my cousin Dom, I definitely believe your hypothesis.”

Mila laughed. “I keep telling her that the shop will be fine and to focus on actually creating products but then she gets caught up over what to name the place. Oh well. I’ll just be happy once it’s open. Too much is unknown at this point.”

“At least you know what you’re doing,” Erica said. “I’m still stuck trying to find a job.”

“I thought you were interning at The Quibbler?” Scorpius asked her.

“I was but then they had budget cuts and I lost my internship,” Erica said, sighing. “So now I have no idea what to do, there are only so many papers to write at.”

“You know, I bet my mum could help you,” Albus said and Erica looked at him, lighting up. “She’s the sports editor but I know that she knows everyone at the _Prophet_. I’m sure she could help you make some connections to find something.”

“Are you serious?” Erica said, squeezing Declan. “That would be amazing Al!”

“But no pressure,” Declan said, and Erica nodded. “But you’re also doing Erica a big favor if it works out.”

“Seriously,” Erica said. “ _The Prophet_ would be such an amazing opportunity. They didn’t have anything when I was looking in the winter and now that I’m unemployed, I couldn’t find anything.”

“I’ll talk to my mum and give her your information,” Albus said. “I can’t promise it will be anything glamorous, maybe just doing coffee and sandwich runs, but it’s a start.”

Erica smiled. “That would be more than enough. Let me know if you need anything.”

Erica was about to say more but Declan dragged her out onto the dance floor.

“Well, look at you saving the day,” Scorpius said, clapping a hand on Albus’s shoulder.

Albus shrugged. “It was the least I could do. Mum always said to let her know if anyone needed help with a writing job…apparently her boss is always asking her to recommend people.”

“Well, your mum won’t be wrong in recommending Erica,” Mila said, with a grin.

“I know, that’s why I offered it,” Albus said. “Wouldn’t have said so if I didn’t think she’d do well.”

“Oh, so you don’t just want to play knight in shining armor for any girl in need?” Mila said with a teasing tone in her voice. “I was under the impression that the Potter family loved saving the day.”

Scorpius frowned though. Because he almost thought there was something else in her voice besides friendly teasing. Albus though, didn’t seem to pick up on it, instead keeping his face neutral.

“Not exactly,” Albus said, keeping a flat tone. “Despite what you and many others seem to think, each Potter is their own person and not just copies of my dad.”

Mila’s smile faltered. Scorpius knew that Mila hadn’t meant anything by her comment; it was just meant as friendly teasing.

“Al, I didn’t mean—”

“I’ll see you guys around,” Al said. “Louis is waving at me; I better go see what he needs.”

“Bye,” Scorpius said as Al walked away.

Mila bit her look looking after him before looking at Scorpius.

“I thought I was teasing him in a friendly way,” Mila said.

“I know,” Scorpius said. “But you’ve made comments like that before and you’re not the only one. Wouldn’t surprise me if it’s an area of contention for him.”

“Right,” Mila said, shaking her head. “This is why I wasn’t friends with him. He’s far too sensitive.”

“Yeah, it has nothing to do with your dumb grudge you held against him for six and a half years,” Scorpius said sarcastically.

Mila glared at him.

“I’m going to go to the bar, I’ll see you around, okay?” Scorpius said, patting Mila on the arm.

“Oh, okay,” Mila said, seeming disappointed that Scorpius was leaving.

Scorpius didn’t pay much attention to it though. While he and Mila were on more platonic terms than they had been in January, he still sometimes got the feeling that she…wanted more from him.

And he didn’t want that from her. There was only one girl he wanted that from.

“One butterbeer please,” Scorpius said. He turned to look out at the crowd while his drink was made.

Although Scorpius was not shy when it came to parties, this kind of party was one that he didn’t like very much. The room was packed, to the point where there barely seemed to be any personal space possible. Although he had just left Mila, he couldn’t see her anymore.

He scanned the crowd, looking for one person in particular.

Although Declan thought his idea was stupid, Scorpius was hoping to use the party was a way to reconnect with Rose. It had been a few weeks since her break up and even though they weren’t speaking, Scorpius felt as though she was no longer icing him out. She would smile at him in class or in the halls and handed him his quill when he dropped it.

It was all small things but Scorpius was feeling hopeful that maybe she was trying to signal to him that she wanted to try things again. Scorpius knew Rose; he knew that if she wanted to try things again, she wouldn’t come out and say it but instead be very subtle.

Scorpius thank the bartender for the butterbeer, taking a drink before begin to walk around the perimeter of the dance floor, his eyes moving over the crowd looking for her red hair.

After 15 minutes of scanning the crowd, Scorpius was beginning to think that maybe she didn’t come. If Scorpius hated this kind of crowd, he knew Rose would. Maybe she said cousin obligation be damned, maybe she just stayed for a few minutes, maybe—

Maybe she was on the dance floor in Graham’s arms.

Scorpius stopped walking, staring directly at where Rose and Graham slow danced, arms around each other. They was nothing about the way that danced that told Scorpius it was anything but platonic—they were far apart, arms hung loosely, and seemed to be chatting, a stark contrast to the couple snogging less than a foot from them—but it was all Scorpius needed to suddenly feel like the biggest wanker in the world.

It felt like such a slap in the face of a reminder of what he had suspected since last summer but tried to deny: Rose belonged with Graham. Although Scorpius tried to pretend, she didn’t, it was the whole reason that he imploded their relationship just months before. He didn’t just want to be a footnote in the Rose and Graham love story.

Scorpius put down his drink, making his way back to the direction of the door. Along the way, he saw Declan and Erica slow dancing, Erica’s head resting on Declan’s chest. Scorpius walked over to them and tapped on Declan’s shoulder.

“You were right,” Scorpius said.

Declan turned his head toward Scorpius.

“What?” Declan asked. Erica lifted her head of Declan’s chest, looking confused.

“You were right,” Scorpius said. “I’m an idiot for thinking tonight, or any night for that matter, was the night for that.”

Declan thought for a moment and then clarity dawned on him. “I’m sorry, mate.”

“Why are you sorry?” Erica asked, but Scorpius ignored her.

“I’m heading out,” Scorpius said, nodding towards the door. “Hoping that I can stop feeling stupid for thinking something was happening.”

“Scorp—”

Scorpius turned around not wanting to listen to Declan attempt to make him feel better and less like a fool. He heard Erica start asking Declan questions behind him.

“What was he thinking was happening? Why does he feel stupid?” Erica said. “Did he find out about Mila’s feelings for—”

Scorpius kept walking, the party noise overtaking Erica’s speech until he reached the hall. He shut the door behind him and started towards the Slytherin Common room. Scorpius heard the door shut behind him and what sounded like footsteps hurriedly following him, but he didn’t look back. He kept looking forward, not wanting to engage with someone when he felt like such a complete fool.

The footsteps stopped as quickly as they started, but Scorpius didn’t turn to see who it was, keeping his eyes on the ground his whole walk to the dungeons.

Because of this, he didn’t notice the petite red head staring after him, trying to work up the courage to call out after him before eventually deciding to give up and head to the Ravenclaw Tower.

* * *

“A toast!”

Scorpius looked over at Inez who was standing on the brand new coffee table that they had just moved into their apartment.

“To celebrate graduating,” Inez said, which was met with cheers from Mila and Erica. “Most of us having jobs and the fact that some of us are finally living in our own places!”

“Woo!!!” Everyone yelled as they clicked their glasses of butterbeer together.

“Three cheers!”

Scorpius looked over to where Graham gave Inez a refill of butterbeer while Layla shook her head.

“Quite the odd crowd here tonight huh?”

Scorpius turned to his side and saw Mila beside him, smiling at him.

“Indeed,” Scorpius said, nodding towards where Layla and Graham sat talking to Declan and Erica. Inez meanwhile was talking to a Gryffindor Scorpius recognized from their year. “Never thought we all would be hanging out in the same room with your cousin’s friends.”

“Honestly, I didn’t either,” Mila said. “But of course, with us living together…it was inevitable.”

“Yes, especially when you ask us all to help you move,” Scorpius said with a cheeky grin at her. “Strange how we’re all thrown together.”

“Well, we needed help,” Mila said. She made her eyes big. “After all, we’re just three girls. We needed strong men like you and Declan to help us carry things.”

“You have magic!” Scorpius exclaimed. “You’re also way better at levitating charms than me. You probably could have done all the work I did manually by yourself because that’s how strong you are.”

Mila laughed. “Yeah, well maybe we didn’t just want your muscles. Maybe we wanted to spend time with you guys too.”

Scorpius looked at her and she gave him a small, somewhat awkward smile before looking over at Erica, breaking eye contact with him.

Erica rested her head on Declan’s shoulder, laughing at something Graham said.

“Do you think they’ll make it?” Mila asked, causing Scorpius to frown. Mila noticed this and expanded. “Erica and Declan. Do you think they’ll make it? I know Ireland isn’t too far and we have magic which makes seeing each other easier but…do you think they’ll make it?”

Scorpius watched as Declan moved his head slightly to kiss Erica’s head, a move that was so subtle that one would have missed it.

“Maybe,” Scorpius said. “I don’t know though. You of all people should know that I have a lot to learn in terms of relationships.”

A moment of silence fell over them.

“I used to think that would be us,” Mila said softly. “I used to think that _was_ us. All happy and in love. The kind of couple people envied.”

Scorpius couldn’t help but let out a slight laugh. “I don’t think anyone envied our relationship. We fought a little too much for that.”

Mila bit her lip as she thought of this, peaking another glance at Erica and Declan.

“Right,” Mila said quietly.

Scorpius couldn’t help but notice that there appeared an air of disappointment in her response. Scorpius looked over at her to where she still sat watching Erica and Declan, biting her lip, thinking deeply.

“Are you okay?” Scorpius asked.

“Yeah,” Mila said, blinking a lot. “I need to go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

Without another word, Mila brushed past him, heading to her room and closing the door.

Layla came up to him, grabbing another butterbeer from the kitchen before stopping next to Scorpius.

“Why are you being antisocial?” Layla asked. “There’s a whole group of people over there who you could talk to.”

“I was talking to Mila,” Scorpius said, nodding towards the direction of her room. “She just went to the bathroom.”

“Hmmm,” Layla said. “So, what did you say to her?”

Scorpius frowned at Layla. “What?”

“I’m assuming you said something to make her upset,” Layla said. “Girls don’t just suddenly need to go to the bathroom.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Scorpius said.

“Well, I’m a girl, so I know more than you,” Layla responded cheekily. “I also happen to know that you do a good job of upsetting people.”

“Okay, that’s not pointed at all,” Scorpius said.

Layla shrugged. “Sorry not sorry.”

Scorpius sighed before looking back at the crowd before them, his eyes landing on Graham.

“What happened there anyway?” Scorpius said. “With Graham and—”

“Absolutely not,” Layla said firmly. “I’m not telling you why their relationship didn’t work. It’s not your business.”

“I know,” Scorpius said. “I was just curious.”

“Sure,” Layla said. “Likely story.”

Just then there was a knock on the door which caused Inez to squeal “Finally!” as she ran over and opened the door.

“Rosie!” Inez said, throwing her arms around Rose. “Welcome to my home!”

“Thank you for having us!” Rose said, laughing as she hugged Inez back. Behind Rose was Al, who squeezed past the hugging, giving Inez a pat on the head as he entered.

“Al, don’t do that,” Inez said.

“You’re just so little,” Al said. “It’s fun.”

“I hate that Mila told you I hated that,” Inez said, fixing her hair. “It’s not my fault you guys are tall freaks.”

“Cousin code to share what annoys your cousin so others join,” Al said, shrugging. “As I recall that’s how you learned that Hugo hated being called Hughie and now you refuse to call him anything else.”

“Well, that one is just fun,” Inez said, with a grin.

“We also have gifts for you all!” Rose said, handing Inez a small box. She made her way over to Erica and gave her a box as well. “Just a little housewarming gift.”

Al grabbed a box from Rose and walked towards where Scorpius and Layla were.

“Hey guys,” Al said. “Not a bad place you set them up with, Scorp.”

“Unfortunately, I have to agree,” Layla said. “The apartment is amazing and the shop is incredible.”

“It was all my dad,” Scorpius said, shrugging. “So, Layla, unless you have a grudge against him, I’m pretty sure you can easily agree.”

Layla shook her head and Albus looked at them questioningly.

“Layla hates me,” Scorpius said.

“Hate is a strong word,” Layla said, pointedly. “I don’t hate you. I actually quite like you as a person.”

They heard something drop from beside them and saw that Rose had dropped a butterbeer bottle.

“Sorry!” she said, pulling out her wand and cleaning it up. She didn’t meet Scorpius’s eyes as she grabbed a new one before walking back towards Inez with a strange look on her face.

“Oh Merlin,” Layla said under her breath. “I have to go try to fix this.”

Layla walked away, leaving Scorpius confused.

“Fix what?” Scorpius said. “Did I miss something?”

“No, not unless we both did,” Albus said, looking around the apartment. “Hey, where is Mila?”

“Not sure,” Scorpius said. “She said she was going to the bathroom and hasn’t come back. Why?”

“Oh, I have the gift Rose and I got for her,” Albus said, holding up the box. “Given Mila’s…attitude towards Rose, I thought it would be better for me to give it to her.”

“You mean Mila’s random hatred towards Rose?” Scorpius said and Al nodded.

“Yep,” Albus said. “Anything you need to fill me in on about why she dislikes Rose?”

Scorpius shrugged. “I have no idea. Up until a few months ago she hated you too. I never understood it. She just…always had a grudge against you all.”

“Odd,” Albus said.

“Very much so,” Scorpius said. “Mila’s an odd one though.”

Scorpius saw Al give a small smile. “Yeah, she is.”

A moment of silence fell over them and Scorpius’s eyes found where Rose was sitting next to Graham on the couch, joining his conversation with Erica and Declan.

“So um,” Scorpius said, unsure of how to ask his question. “How…how is Rose?”

“Merlin, Scorp, seriously?” Al said giving him a look of disbelieve before shaking his head. “Fine. She’s doing okay. Starting the interview process for healing apprenticeships.”

Scorpius nodded. “That’s exciting.”

“Yeah, it is,” Al said, taking a drink of butterbeer.

Scorpius frowned as he watched Graham and Rose together. They were sitting close together and Graham leaned over to whisper something in Rose’s ear which sent her into a fit of giggles.

“Are they back together?” Scorpius asked suddenly.

His question clearly caught Albus off guard as Al nearly spit out his butterbeer, coughing as he covered his mouth. Everyone looked over at him, Rose standing up as if ready to run over and help if needed.

“I’m fine,” Albus said once he stopped coughing. “Just went down the wrong pipe.”

Everyone turned back to their conversations besides Rose, who gave another look at Albus, as if asking him if he was sure he was okay. Albus gave her a thumbs up and Scorpius saw Rose give him a hesitant, unsure smile before her eyes drifted away from him.

Scorpius was shocked to discover that her eyes drifted right to his. He stood up straighter, that familiar tightness in his stomach returning as he looked back at her. For a moment, it was like everything else disappeared as he focused on Rose.

She gave him a small, half smile, the kind that didn’t fully reach her eyes, as if she were sad. Scorpius wanted to go over there, to ask her what was wrong, but she pulled away, giving Inez a bright smile as Inez suggested a tournament of Wizard Chess.

The music came back to Scorpius then and it was like he was suddenly brought out of a dream and he frowned, wondering all of what Rose’s smile could mean.

“You okay mate?” Albus said.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” Scorpius said.

He made his way down the hall, going into the bathroom on his left, right next to the door to Mila’s room. He went in and shut the door, closing his eyes for a second.

Given Albus’s response, Scorpius felt it was safe to say that Rose and Graham were not back together. But what confused Scorpius was Rose’s smile.

Why did she seem sad looking at him?

Was she sad?

Or did all the pain he cause her always come back when she looked at him?

Scorpius heard footsteps approaching and knew that meant he probably should finish his pondering so they could get in but the footsteps walked right past. In fact, they went to the door next to him and knocked.

Scorpius frowned but then he heard the door open.

“Oh, hey Al,” Mila said, her voice muffled through the walls of the bathroom.

“Hey,” Albus said. “You aren’t coming to your own housewarming party?”

Mila let out a little laugh. “I was just um, just thinking about something.”

“Oh, well, I’m sorry I interrupted your thinking,” Albus said.

“Don’t be,” Mila responded. “I’m glad to see you.”

“Really?” Albus said, a teasing tone in his voice. “I don’t think I ever expected you to say that to me.”

“I don’t think I ever expected to say it,” Mila replied and Scorpius could hear the smile in her voice. “Are we okay? I never really got to apologize after the saving the day comment—”

“We’re okay Mila,” Albus said. “I probably overreacted. Just a touch sensitive about the dad comparisons.”

“I understand,” Mila said. “I’m sure it’s not easy. Having a dad like that.”

“No, it’s not,” Albus said. “Comments like those are pretty typical and I…I just overreacted.”

“I really don’t know that you did,” Mila said, laughing slightly. “You just didn’t really react at all and then didn’t talk to me. I feel like an overreaction would be yelling at me or something. If anything, what you did was an underreaction.”

“That’s because you are used to Scorpius’s overreactions to everything,” Albus said. “He is definitely a yeller when he needs to be.”

Scorpius frowned as he heard Mila laugh in agreement.

Scorpius was about to come out of the bathroom to defend himself and his reactions, when Albus started speaking.

“Oh, I have a gift for you,” Albus said.

“You have a gift for me?” Mila said, clearly taken aback.

“Yeah,” Albus said, sounding nervous. “Well, me and Rose. We got all of three of you something to celebrate moving out.”

Mila let out a breath. “Well, that was nice of you.”

“Nana Weasley said we should get you all something to celebrate moving out on your own and you and Inez opening the business,” Albus said. “Rose picked out Inez’s gift, because she knows Inez best and we both picked out Erica’s because we weren’t really sure what she would want and then I…I picked out your gift.”

There was a moment of silence and Scorpius stood in the bathroom, wondering what on earth he was hearing.

“You got a gift for me?” Mila said, her voice quiet, almost as if she couldn’t actually believe it.

“I picked it out,” Albus said. “Rose approved it but she said since I knew you better, I should pick it.”

“What is it?” Mila asked.

“Right,” Albus said and Scorpius heard him fumbling. “Here.”

Scorpius stood there, feeling so confused by the conversation, and the fact that they both were acting so weird, as he listened to Mila unwrap the present.

“It’s a personalized journal,” Albus said. “I remember you saying that your mum suggested you start journaling to help with your anxiety and thought this could be good. My cousin Dom has one and she says it helps with her anxiety a lot because she’s able to put all her thoughts to paper and get everything out of her head so that she can think clearly. If you don’t like it, I can take it back. I wasn’t sure what to get but I remembered you saying it and I thought—”

“Al,” Mila said, with a sweet tone of voice. “It is perfect. Thank you.”

Another moment of silence fell between them, and Scorpius thought that maybe, finally, he could leave the bathroom.

But something told him to say inside the bathroom. He had no idea why, but there was something about Mila and Al’s conversation that told him it wasn’t something he should interrupt.

“Are you going to come back to the party?” Albus said. “Inez was challenging Graham to a game of Wizard Chess. Could get intense.”

“No, I don’t think so,” Mila said. “But um…if you wanted you could hang out with me in here. I’m not in the mood to be with everyone out there. I would kind of just like to listen to music. You’re welcome to hang out with me, if you wanted.”

“Um,” Albus said, sounding slightly breathless. “Yeah. Yeah, let’s do that. But if you have any Celestina Warbeck, I have the right to mock you.”

Scorpius heard the door to Mila’s room closed and although he knew that now was a perfect time to leave the bathroom, he instead found himself staring at the incredibly confused expression on his face.

What was that? Since when does Al get gifts for anyone? Since when did Mila want a journal? Since when did Mila not want to be around everyone at a party?

Scorpius was feeling very confused as to how two people, who he felt he knew very well, did not act at all how he expected them to during that interaction. Just a few months ago, they could barely stand being in the same room together and now they were ditching a party to listen to music alone? Together?

What the—

“Rose come on!”

Scorpius looked at the door where he heard two steps of footsteps stop in front of the bathroom door and someone try the handle, only to let out a frustrated groan when it didn’t open.

“Rose, come on you know that’s not what was happening,” Layla said.

“Okay,” Rose said, clearly the one frustrated. “I just need a moment alright?”

“Why?” Layla asked.

“Because, even if you think I’m being stupid, I don’t enjoy hearing one of my best friends saying that you’re flirting with my ex!”

“I wasn’t!” Layla defended. “And even if I was, Inez was just being Inez! You know her, two people talk and she thinks it’s flirting.”

“Layla, you know I’m still in love with him why would you do that?”

And just like that, all of Scorpius’s confusion about whatever was going with Mila and Al left his mind. Instead, all that filled it were what Rose just said.

Rose was still in love with Graham. Scorpius didn’t even know that Rose had loved him at all and now was finding out that she was still in love with him. Maybe Graham was the one to break up with her. Maybe what Scorpius thought were smiles, clues she was trying to send him that she broke up with Graham for him were all just things he was projecting on to her.

Scorpius clenched his fists, wondering how in the world he misread the situation so much.

Graham had to be they were referring to. Otherwise, why would Rose be getting so publicly upset? She only had one ex there that everyone knew about.

Scorpius knew better than to hope she was getting upset with him.

“Rose, I promise you, nothing was going on,” Layla said. “You know that I would never flirt with him, I think he’s a jerk.”

Scorpius frowned at this, because as far as he knew, Layla and Graham were friends.

Then again, he considered Jordan a friend, but still thought Jordan was an arse.

“Besides, Inez doesn’t even know that there was anything between you and—”

Scorpius opened the door, desperately wanting to get out of the bathroom and not wanting to listen anymore to Rose and Layla fight about Graham. He didn’t have to willing put him in a situation that would just end up being a part of his bad dreams.

Layla looked up at him, confused, while Rose looked at Scorpius, completely mortified.

“Did you hear that?” she asked him.

“Hear what?” Scorpius said, shrugging. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

He walked past Rose and Layla, hearing them both run into the bathroom and lock the door as he walked away.

Scorpius gave a little wave to everyone as he walked out of the apartment, ignoring Declan’s calls after him.

He went into Diagon Alley, taking a deep breath, and kicking a can on the street, hating the jealousy he felt that Rose was still in love with Graham and upset that someone else flirted with him.

As he walked down the street, he couldn’t stop imagining what would have happened if Rose had been talking about him instead.

* * *

A few weeks later, he had just gotten off of work at The Malfoy Foundation only to floo in to the Manor where three girls were waiting for him.

Scorpius frowned but before he could say anything, Erica gave him a firm look.

“We want to go swimming,” she said flatly.

“Okay,” Scorpius said, loosening his tie. “Then go swimming.”

“We need to use the lake,” Erica said. “And as I recall Mila and I were told we couldn’t use it unless you were here.”

Scorpius shot a questioning look at Mila, who nodded. “You said so in fourth year. You said that it was a rule of your dads.”

“Oh,” Scorpius said, remembering that day. “Well, that’s not true.”

Inez threw her hands up. “I told you both!”

“You said your dad didn’t allow people to swim,” Erica said. “You said that there was a spell over it that you had to have a Malfoy with you to swim!”

Scorpius shrugged. “I lied. I was a fourteen-year-old boy. You were fourteen-year-old girls. It can’t be that hard to understand.”

“That’s disgusting,” Erica said, wrapping her arms around her chest. “I now understand why you hung out with Jordan.”

“Hey it wasn’t just me! Declan was grateful that I said that,” Scorpius said. Erica’s face fell then.

“Okay,” she said gulping. “Well then if I don’t need you, I’m going to go swim. Bye Malfoy.”

Mila shook her head at Scorpius while Inez hurried after Erica. Scorpius gave her a confused look.

“You can’t be that stupid,” Mila said flatly.

“You dated me for three years,” Scorpius responded. “You should know that I can in fact be that stupid. Why did she get upset by me mentioning Declan?”

Mila gave him a look. “Scorpius.”

“What?” Scorpius asked, confused why she was acting like he was supposed to know something.

Mila stared at him for a second before something seemed to dawn on her.

“He didn’t tell you,” she said quietly.

“Still need to catch me up here, Mi,” Scorpius responded.

“Declan broke up with Erica,” Mila said. “Two weeks ago, right before he left for Ireland.”

Scorpius frowned, feeling confused as to why Declan didn’t tell him that he broke up with Erica.

Then again, he didn’t exactly tell Declan when he started seeing Rose last summer.

“Oh,” Scorpius said. “I didn’t know. The last time I saw him was at your place after you moved in.”

“Well, he broke up with her two days later,” Mila said. “You guys should really be better at communicating. Seems odd you didn’t know your best friend was breaking up with his girlfriend of a two years.”

Scorpius looked out the door where Erica went.

“How is she doing?”

“How do you think?” Mila said. “She completely heartbroken. She thought he was the love of her life and was working on a plan to move to Ireland in a few years. She felt totally blindsided.”

Scorpius nodded, remembering how he felt when Rose had ended things with him last September and then again when she started dating Graham just weeks after they broke up a second time in March. Although their relationship was only a fraction of the time that Declan and Erica’s was, being blindsided in a relationship was never fun.

“I know how she feels,” Scorpius said quietly. “Being blind sighted by the person you think is the love of your life is not fun.”

Mila frowned looking up at him. “When did I ever—”

Mila pursed her lips suddenly, as the realization that Scorpius wasn’t talking about her dawned on her. Scorpius saw a flash of hurt pass before her eyes and he was suddenly filled with guilt.

“Right,” Mila said quietly. “Well, I should go join Erica and Inez swimming. They’ll start to wonder where I am.”

Scorpius nodded, unsure of what to say, walking up to his room as Mila walked out the back doors.

* * *

Scorpius walked out to the lake around twenty minutes after his conversation with Mila, after realizing it was far too hot of a day to be inside. It was the last week of June, yet the heat was coming in full force.

Scorpius walked up to where the girls had left their towels, watching them sit and gossip in the water.

“He emerges!” Inez said with a grin. “I was wondering how long it would be before you broke and came swimming.”

“Scorpius do you have any floaties?” Erica asked, clearly having moved on from Scorpius’s blunder earlier.

“I think they’re in the shed,” Scorpius said, nodding towards the shed. Inez and Erica both got out and ran to the shed.

“There’s like 50 floaties in here!” Inez said, walking in, Erica following close behind her.

Mila sat in the shallow part of the lake, looking up at him as the water splashed against her.

“I think you just made their day,” Mila said.

Scorpius stripped off his shirt before going to sit next to her in the water.

“Well, that is what I do best,” Scorpius said.

Mila shook her head with a small smile on her face.

Scorpius watched her as she looked across the lake and it was hard for him to ignore how beautiful she was. Her long legs were stretched before him and her hair was up in a ponytail, which was always his favorite way that she wore her hair.

Looking at her, it wasn’t hard for him to remember why he dated her for so long, despite their toxic relationship. She was stunning, but she also had a good heart. Scorpius remembered how when they first started dating, before they started fighting all the time, how he felt like he had hit the jackpot, because she was gorgeous and a good person.

And then they started fighting and Mila started getting more particular about how she wanted him to respond to things and act as a response to the eyes on them after reading articles in the _Prophet_ and _Witch Weekly,_ and he pushed back against her and before long they were in the toxic spiral of breaking up and getting back together for three years before he ended it. For good.

The only reason he had done that too is because his mother had told him she was sick again. Suddenly the drama with Mila didn’t seem worth it anymore.

And of course, ending things with Mila caused him to spend more time with Albus. Which in turn meant more time with Rose.

Which meant that it wasn’t long before he was completely in love with Rose, Mila almost a distant memory.

The look on her face when she realized that he was referring to Rose as the love of his life and not her came back to him, along with guilt as well.

While he wasn’t in love with Mila anymore, he still loved her. He didn’t want to hurt her and he was sure that hearing that she wasn’t the love of his life after three years hurt. Especially since she could easily guess who he was talking about and it wasn’t even someone who he had dated openly.

“Mi,” Scorpius said softly. “About what I said earlier—”

“You don’t need to explain,” Mila said, pulling her legs in and wrapping her arms around them.

“I want to apologize—”

“Scorp,” Mila said, cutting him off. “You don’t have to. There’s nothing to apologize for.”

Scorpius frowned, not sure if he believed her.

Mila started sinking herself deeper into the lake until she could dive in. When she emerged up, she turned back towards Scorpius with an easy smile on her face.

“Scorp, get in,” she said. “Let’s swim.”

She dove down again, swimming farther out into the lake and Scorpius found himself following after her.

* * *

After the day at the lake, Scorpius started spending more time with Mila. Which was why one day after work a week later, he Apparated to Diagon Alley walking into the _Torres Skin Care Apothecary_ , bags of food in hand. The bell rang as he closed the door.

“Just a moment!” He heard Inez yell from the back.

He walked towards the register, glancing at a cream as he went by, stopping when one caught his eye.

_Rose Cleanser_

_A powerful cleanser that focuses on diminishing cystic breakouts caused from stress. Best if used with the Rose Toner and the Rose Cream._

He held it in his hand, looking at it confused.

“Are you in need of some face wash due to stress?”

Scorpius looked up at where Inez was standing, her bleach blonde hair up in a high bun and her t-shirt showing her tan skin. She smiled at him.

“No,” Scorpius said. “I, um, was just looking at this because I noticed it had Rose’s name on it.”

“Yep,” Inez said, nodding. “A lot of the product names and lines are named after my friends since they are potions, I made for them and their skin. The Mila line tackles dry skin, the Layla line is more for athletes and the Rose line—”

“Is for stress?” Scorpius finished for her.

“Kind of, it’s mainly for those prone for cystic acne,” Inez explained. “Stress doesn’t help that and if Rose calmed down a little bit, her face would be spotless. But Rose is Rose and does not know how to not stress, especially about school.”

Scorpius smiled, remembering Rose explaining her strict N.E.W.T.s schedule.

“Yeah, I know,” he said softly, looking down at the bottle in his hand. “I don’t think I ever met anyone who really seemed to love studying as much as her.”

Inez tilted her head at him, clearly confused by the obvious fondness in his tone. It was only then that Scorpius remembered that while it did seem like many people (Albus, Mila, Layla, to name a few) knew about their relationship, most people didn’t. And those people included Inez.

“At least that’s what it seemed like,” Scorpius said, making his tone much more neutral and looking back at Inez. “From afar and stuff.”

“Right,” Inez said, clearly not buying his attempt to act nonchalant.

“So, where’s Mila?” Scorpius asked. He held up a bag of food. “My dad is representing the Malfoy Foundation at a St. Mungo’s event which meant that I was on my own for dinner so I brought food for all of us. Thought we could hang out.”

“What kind of food?” Inez asked, leaning towards the bag.

“Chinese,” Scorpius said.

“Bless you,” Inez said, leaning back. “I’m not sure where Mila is; it’s her day off. She said something about hanging out with Al but I’m not sure where they went.”

“She and Al are hanging out?” Scorpius asked. “Since when do they rub elbows like that?”

“Oh, they’ve been doing more than rubbing elbows,” Inez said, under her breath, causing Scorpius to give her a confused look. She shook her head. “I don’t know. But you could see if they’re upstairs. The store is open for twenty more minutes then I’ll be up.”

“Okay, no problem,” Scorpius said grabbing the food. “Is the door unlocked?”

“Yes, but I would knock,” Inez replied. “I learned that one the hard way.”

Scorpius gave her a confused look, trying to put the pieces together about what she could be talking about, but Inez eventually just sighed and shook her head at him.

“Never mind, just knock,” Inez said.

As Scorpius walked towards the side of the shop where a staircase lead up to Inez and Mila’s apartment.

As Scorpius stepped on the first step, he heard Inez start to clean up, banging bottles together, his ears perking up when he heard his name.

“Scorpius Malfoy you are such an oblivious idiot sometimes.”

Scorpius frowned, but then his stomach grumbled, and he continued up the stairs, ready to dig into the Chinese food. It was on his way up the stairs, that he realized he was still holding the facial cleanser and, while he knew he should have brought to Inez, instead he slipped it into his pocket, not quite ready to let that small connection with Rose go yet.

* * *

Despite what Inez said, the apartment door was not unlocked. Scorpius frowned; typically, when one of Erica, Mila, or Inez were home, they had the door unlocked, as it made it easy to come and go.

Scorpius assumed this meant that no one was home and was ready to go downstairs and keep Inez company while she closed, but then he heard music playing inside the apartment. He frowned and knocked on the door.

No one came to the door so he knocked harder and that time, he heard shuffling from inside the apartment. The door opened and Mila was standing there, her hair looking like bedhead as she pulled her tank top down over her stomach.

“Scorpius,” Mila said, sounding out of breath. “Hi. I thought the Foundation had an event tonight?”

“We do,” Scorpius said. “But my dad went so I was alone for dinner and figured I’d bring food over here and we could hang out.”

“Right,” Mila said, opening the door wider. “Well come on in. I need to run to my room to freshen up a bit though.”

Mila walked over to her room and Scorpius followed her into the apartment, but walked to the kitchen instead where he started pulling the Chinese food containers out and putting them on the table.

“Wow did you bring all those for me? Thank you, Scorpius.”

Scorpius looked up, confused why that voice was so deep and almost jumped when he saw Al sitting on a couch with a pillow on his lap.

“Merlin!” Scorpius said, jumping and nearly spilling the sweet and sour pork. “What the fuck mate?!”

Albus snickered and once Scorpius recovered, he looked at Al.

“You were so fucking quiet,” Scorpius said. “I didn’t know you were there.”

“Clearly,” Albus said.

“What are you doing here?” Scorpius asked.

“Oh, you know,” Albus said, gesturing around. “Hanging out.”

“Scorpius did I hear you scream?” Mila said, coming out of her bedroom with her hair looking much smoother now and she had changed into jean shorts and a t-shirt.

“Yeah, Potter over there scared the shit out of me,” Scorpius said, motioning to Al. “I didn’t know he was there.”

Mila gave Albus a tight smile before pulling out plates and placing them around the table. She grabbed some serving equipment and stood next to Scorpius, putting spoons in what he had already put out. Albus cleared his throat and stood up, dropping the pillow that had been occupying his lap back onto the couch.

“Well, I guess I’ll head out—”

“Do you have to?” Scorpius asked. “I mean I just got here. You’ve been hard to see with your Auror training and all. You were the last person I expected to see here.”

“Oh,” Albus said, his eyes sliding to Mila, who was opening the other boxes. “Well, I don’t want to intrude.”

“You won’t be,” Scorpius said. “I bought enough food for ten. Plus, you’ll save me from being the only guy here.”

Albus thought about it, clearly not sure.

“You should stay,” Mila said, almost cautiously, from her spot next to Scorpius. “If you want.”

Albus gave her a long look before nodding. “Yeah, I will. Thanks, Scorpius.”

Albus came over, pulling the chair out across from Scorpius and sitting down.

“You better have dumplings though.”

* * *

Scorpius laid in his bed the next day, looking up at the ceiling when he heard a knock at his door.

He got up, walking over to the door and opening it, shocked to see Mila on the other side.

“Hi,” Scorpius said. “What are you doing here?”

Mila shrugged. “Inez is busy at the store all day and Erica is working extra hours at the _Prophet_ hoping to get a story, so I figured I’d see what you were up to.”

“Oh, you know,” Scorpius said. “Nothing. Wondering how few hours a week someone can sleep before they go insane.”

Mila frowned. “Are you having sleep problems again?”

“They never really stopped,” Scorpius replied as he sat back down on his bed.

“You said that you weren’t having sleep problems after fifth year,” Mila said, her voice sharp.

Scorpius winced, remembering the lie he had told Mila to get her off his back about seeing a sleep healer.

“I lied,” Scorpius admitted. “I was sick of arguing about it, so I told you that I was fine. But in reality, I wasn’t sleeping fine then, and it’s only gotten worse since my mum died.”

Scorpius decided, after her response to when he implied Rose was the love of his life, that it was probably best not to mention that Rose being around was the only thing that helped him sleep.

“How are you doing with that?” Mila asked, walking over to his dresser and starting to tidy it.

Scorpius shrugged. “It is what it is.”

Mila gave him a look while folding a shirt he threw on the dresser.

“What?” Scorpius said. ‘It is. Some days are better than others. I’ve accepted it and accepted that I can’t change it…but it’s still day by day.” He watched as Mila started putting the empty hair product bottles in her hands, presumably to put in the trash. “Mila you don’t need to clean my dresser.”

“I’m not,” Mila said, looking at him. Scorpius looked down at the empty bottles in her hands and back up at her, one eyebrow raised. She huffed. “Well, you have to clean up after yourself Scorpius! You can’t live like this!”

“I’ll let you throw those out, but then you will leave my mess as it is,” Scorpius said, unable to ignore the teasing tone in his voice. “Okay? Just because you don’t like mess doesn’t mean I don’t thrive off of it.”

Mila glared at him and he expected her to fight with him, tell him that his way was all wrong and not the right way. Mila was always trying to make Scorpius do things “The Right Way”, which really just meant “Mila’s Way” and Scorpius rarely did.

Instead, Mila took a deep breath, dropping the small bottles into the trash can next to his nightstand, not saying anything. She frowned at something on his night stand before picking up a small bottle.

“Have you tried this?” she asked, holding up the bottle of _Rose Cleanser_ that he had accidentally stolen from Inez. “I’ve been thinking of trying it lately because I’ve been getting stress pimples but wasn’t sure.”

Scorpius frowned. “I’m sorry. What?”

“Well, I think it’s because of the store—”

“No, not that,” Scorpius said. “You’re actually not going to try to convince me that I should try to be cleaner? That your way is right my way is wrong?”

“No,” Mila said simply. “I’m trying to be less intense and a little more…flexible.”

Scorpius gave her a disbelieving look. “I’m sorry. What? Are you having a stroke?”

“Ha-ha,” Mila said. “I’m just…trying okay?”

The way she said it, so quiet to where she almost felt nervous about telling him that she was trying to be more flexible, tugged at Scorpius’s stomach.

“Okay,” Scorpius said.

Mila gave him a grateful smile before she looked over at his dresser. “Honestly Scorpius you’re a wizard, it is so easy to clean—”

She clamped her mouth shut. “Never mind.”

* * *

Mila and Scorpius stood in the living room, looking up at the pictures of Scorpius’s family.

“So how quickly did your parents take me out of these pictures?” Mila said, pointing at a photo where Scorpius and his parents laughed while at dinner together. There was an empty chair next to Scorpius one that Mila used to occupy.

“My parents didn’t do that,” Scorpius said. “Your picture walked out one day after we had a fight here and never came back. That was only about a year after we started dating.”

Mila sighed and nodded. She looked closer at a picture of Scorpius’s mum playing peekaboo with a baby Scorpius, who was giggling each time.

“She never liked me,” Mila said, looking at the picture of his mum.

“That’s not true!” Scorpius said, but Mila gave him a disbelieving look.

“Maybe she liked _me_ , but she certainly didn’t like _us_ ,” Mila responded, looking at 4-year-old Scorpius hug his mum. “I could tell she didn’t think we were good together.

“Can you say you disagree with her?” Scorpius asked.

“Not exactly,” Mila said. “We weren’t good for each other then.”

Scorpius frowned at the word _then_. He looked over at Mila, but she was looking at other photos on the wall from his childhood and Scorpius found he didn’t really want to know what exactly she meant by her statement.

But the more he thought about it, the more he thought maybe she was on to something. Maybe it was only then that they weren’t good for each other. Maybe someday, in the future, they could be good for each other again.

Scorpius sighed and looked at a newer addition to the family wall, put there after his mother died by his dad. There sat Astoria, having tea one day while she was sick, Rose sitting across from her. Astoria smiled and laugh, holding Rose’s hand as the flash went off, taking a picture of them.

Scorpius remembered that day, remembered that they were laughing at him attempting to take a photo because he mentioned not being able to.

His dad put the photo up because while it was clear in the picture that his mother was sick, his dad said it was one of the few times during the last months of her life that she seemed genuinely happy and one of the few photos they had of her laughing while sick. His dad said that they owed it to her to make sure they remembered her that way.

His eyes fell on Rose. And Mila’s word of _then_ started to float in his mind.

And he suddenly found himself hoping that one day, in the future, he and Rose would be good for each other again.

“Scorpius come look at this one! It’s you and Declan on the first day of Hogwarts!”

With one last look at the picture of Rose and his mother, He walked over to Mila, laughing when he saw Declan’s too big robes on him.

* * *

“So, which one is the Big Dipper?” Mila asked as she laid on her back, looking up at the sky.

“I have no idea,” Scorpius said from his spot next to her. “I failed Astronomy.”

“Well maybe star gazing won’t go so well then,” Mila said, sighing. “I can at least tell you that that is the moon.”

Scorpius gave Mila a look. “Thank you, I would not have been able to find it myself.”

Mila smiled at him. “You’re welcome.”

Scorpius smiled back at her, his eyes holding hers for a few moments.

He was grateful to have her like this. To spend time with her. They hadn’t spent time together in so long and it was nice to just…be together. No stress of what others would say or think, no over analyzing what each interaction meant, no arguing with each other.

“Today was nice,” Scorpius said.

“Yeah,” Mila said softly, her eyes scanning his face. Her eyes stopped on his lips for a second before she sat up suddenly.

“Are you okay?” Scorpius said, pushing himself up into a seated position next to her.

Mila didn’t say anything, instead just frowning and clearly thinking hard about something.

Scorpius touched her arm. “Hey, talk to me. Are you okay?”

Mila nodded. “I—”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Today was a really good day,” she said quietly. Scorpius nodded in agreement.

“But I don’t know if I can do it again, not when I feel the way I do,” Mila said quietly.

Scorpius frowned at her. “What do you mean?”

“I…I want to get back together,” Mila said quietly.

Scorpius sat there processing what she said, watching Mila pull at the grass and not meet his eyes.

“I know we didn’t work last time but…I want to try again,” Mila admitted, still not meeting his eyes and continuing to pull grass from the ground. “We know where we went wrong and why we didn’t work…we could be better to each other now. Today proved that we could get through the day without arguing and have fun together. We could make it work. I could be more patient and you could not antagonize and we could do it. We could make it work. I—”

Mila gulped as if the next part was hard for her to say. She finally looked up at him then, meeting his eyes.

“I still love you,” Mila said quietly. “And I want to try again. Give us another shot.”

Scorpius sat there staring at her, but in that moment, he could barely even focus on her. In his mind all he saw was himself in Mila’s position, saying very similar words to Rose just a few months prior.

But Rose rejected him. She loved him, but she didn’t want to try again.

Scorpius looked at Mila, knowing the love he still had for her in his heart, knowing the pain that she would go through if he said no, pain that he had just gone through when Rose said no.

She seemed sincere about wanting to work on their relationship, more sincere than she ever had been. She knew what she did wrong and Scorpius knew what he did wrong. He loved her, there was no doubt about it.

Rose still lingered in his mind, a constant reminder of the pain from their relationship. He didn’t want to be that with Mila. Not when there was a chance that maybe this time could be better.

So, Scorpius found himself saying yes, believing in the moment he said it that he was all in on their relationship.

* * *

After they had decided to get back together, Scorpius and Mila went back to his room, kissing and hands roaming as if it were the first time all over again. He had kissed Mila hard when he entered her, feeling the familiar buzz and her scent overwhelm him. Once they had both come down, Mila rested her head on his shoulder, his arms wrapped her. He kissed her forehead.

“I love you,” he whispered quietly, believing it in that moment.

Mila smiled, giving him a quick kiss before she had drifted asleep and Scorpius, to his surprise, fell asleep too.

However, the sleep hadn’t lasted long. He woke up, two hours later, thanks a memory of his mum teaching him to swim.

Scorpius looked over at Mila, now on her own pillow with his green sheets wrapped around her bare chest, fast asleep in his bed. Scorpius’s stomach lurched and suddenly a different vision filled his mind.

Rose laughing, in the exact spot Mila was, teasing him for the stuffed hippogriff that she found under her pillow. She laughed at him, asking if the hippogriff was his friend who watched over him while he slept at night, before giving the stuffed hippogriff a kiss and a hug, saying she was going to sleep with him that night instead.

Scorpius ran his hands over his eyes, trying to force the image out of his head, but more kept coming.

Rose raising her hand victorious after finally beating him in exploding snap.

Rose giving him a loving smile as his mother gushed about him.

Rose taking frantic notes in class, trying to get everything the Professor was saying down.

Rose standing outside his door after his mum died, looking at him with such care.

Rose’s face after they had kissed for the first time under the tree in Albus’s backyard.

Rose telling him that she was in love with him.

Scorpius got out of bed suddenly, going over to the bathroom and splashing water on his face before looking at himself in the mirror. He counted to ten, trying to clear his mind out, a trick that his mum taught him when he was a kid and couldn’t sleep, but by the time he reached ten, he found that his mind was still flooded with memories of Rose.

Eventually, Scorpius decided to stop fighting it. He went back to bed, lying next to Mila, and fell asleep all his dreams featuring Rose.


	2. but i know i miss you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> based on 'betty' from Taylor Swift's album folklore

“So, you and Mila are back together?”

Scorpius looked up at Al.

“How do you know that?” Scorpius asked. Although it had been close to a week since they had gotten back together, Scorpius still hadn’t told Albus about it. He hadn’t told anyone about it.

“Mum saw something in the Prophet and asked me about it,” Al said. “She liked Mila and was just…wondering what she was doing back with you.”

Scorpius frowned. “When did Mila meet your mum?”

“We ran into her at Diagon Alley a few weeks ago,” Albus said, not meeting Scorpius’s eyes. “Mum and I were visiting Ron at the shop and then Mum needed a face cream so we went to the apothecary. Mila was just getting off her shift, so she saw us. We ended up hanging out for a while.”

“The three of you?” Scorpius asked, unsure of how he was supposed to feel.

“The three of us for lunch yeah,” Albus said, tinkering with the chess piece in front of him. “Mila and I ended up hanging out after just the two of us; went over to look at Quidditch brooms, went to Florian Fortescue, and then hung out at her place.”

Scorpius frowned, wondering why Mila would look at Quidditch brooms when she didn’t play Quidditch. While she liked watching, she would always get frustrated whenever Scorpius would talk too much about it. It had happened just the day before; while she didn’t snap at him like she used to, she did ask if they could talk about something else.

“She’s come by a few times too,” Albus said, almost as if he were admitting something private to Scorpius. “So, she’s been by here a few times, staying for dinner each time and being lucky to get out before 11. The family is quite taken with her.”

“Huh,” Scorpius said, feeling confused on why he didn’t know about this.

Feeling confused as to why he didn’t feel anything but confusion about his girlfriend spending so much time with another bloke.

He knew that before he and Mila started dating Albus and her were spending time together; but for some reason, an alarm was going off in his brain telling him that he should not feel okay with his girlfriend spending time with another bloke and his family.

But besides his brain telling him he _should_ feel something…he didn’t feel anything. No jealousy or insecurity…nothing. More than anything, he was just curious why Albus was acting so odd.

Scorpius watched Al, who was studying their chess board carefully, fidgeting with the chess pieces in his hands as he did so. Then, like a ton of bricks, it hit Scorpius why Al was acting odd about the discussion of Mila. He knew that they had gotten over their animosity and that since graduation they were spending time together. There were also more than a few times that Scorpius had caught Albus staring a little too long at Mila.

And suddenly all the puzzle pieces suddenly clicked in Scorpius’s mind.

Before Scorpius could ask Al about it though, James busted in the door, throwing his suitcase on their chess game.

“James, come on!” Al said.

“Boys, put the games away,” James said. “We’re having a party.”

* * *

“Merlin, Dad’s going to kill him,” Albus said, watching his brother chug a butterbeer while standing on the couch. “He has mud all over his shoes. If he spills the beer on the couch Dad will freak.”

“Well, it was nice knowing you,” Scorpius said, which caused Albus to give him a confused look. “There’s no way James won’t pull you down with him if he gets in trouble. Unlike him, you actually live here.”

Albus groaned. “They should just stop telling James when they go out of town.”

Scorpius laughed looking back at James, his eyes scanning the crowd around them, unable to ignore the tug in his stomach every time he saw someone with red hair.

He heart lurched as he saw a petite girl who red hair, talking to one of James’s friends.

“Hey!”

Scorpius turned toward the voice and saw Mila coming over to him. She gave him a quick hug when she saw him. Scorpius’s eyes shifted to Al, who wasn’t looking at them, but instead looking at James.

“Hey,” Scorpius said, looking back at Mila. “How are you?”

“Good,” Mila said. Her eyes shifted to Albus and she gave him a nervous smile. “Hi Al.”

Albus gave her a tight smile. “Hey, Mila. Nice to see you.”

An awkward air came over them as Mila looked at Albus with pursed lips while Albus avoided her agaze.

“How did you hear about this party?” Scorpius asked Mila, who looked back at him. “I didn’t have time to send you an owl before James made me help with set up.”

“Oh well actually—”

“MIIIIIIIIILAAAAA!”

The three of them looked over at James who was standing on the couch pointing at Mila, James jumped off the couch coming over and putting out a hand for Mila to high five.

“Mila glad to see my owl found you,” James said.

Albus frowned at his brother. “You invited her?”

“Of course,” James said. “Had to invite your girlfriend to the party.”

Mila sucked a breath in and Albus gave his brother an annoyed look. Scorpius continued to stand there, suddenly feeling incredibly awkward.

“For the one millionth time,” Albus said, exhaustedly. “She isn’t my girlfriend. We’re just friends.”

“Right,” James said, though he clearly didn’t believe Albus.

“No, he’s telling the truth,” Mila insisted. “We’re just friends. Scorpius and I are actually dating.”

James frowned, clearly confused and looked at Scorpius, acknowledging his presence for the first time since he came over. He looked from Scorpius to Mila than back to Scorpius.

“Huh,” James said, looking back at Mila. “Well, if you’d rather have this pale fuck rather than my brother you clearly have bad taste.”

“Merlin James,” Albus muttered under his breath.

“Well Sarah will be glad to hear that you are still a single man Al,” James said, clapping Al on the shoulder. “She was asking about you.”

“Who’s Sarah?” Mila asked with a frown.

“Al’s lady friend that he’s been hooking up with for the past few years,” James said, with a pointed glance at Mila. “That’s not a problem with you is it?”

Mila shrugged. “Why would it be?”

Scorpius noticed that Al’s shoulders sagged slightly at this.

James put an arm around Al’s shoulders.

“Come on brother,” James said. “Let’s get you laid.”

James led Al away and Al gave a little shrug to Scorpius. Scorpius looked down at Mila who was looking after them a look on her face that told Scorpius she was clearly thinking hard about something.

“You okay?” Scorpius asked, putting a hand on her waist.

Mila looked up at him, giving him a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Of course, I am,” Mila said. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m sorry about what James said.”

“It’s alright,” Scorpius said.

Because weirdly…it was alright. It didn’t bother Scorpius that James had called Mila Al’s girlfriend or that James clearly thought Mila dating Scorpius instead of Al was wrong.

Although Scorpius remembered the jealousy he felt when Graham would talk to Rose while they were dating and now, he knew that Albus had feelings for Mila and the comments made by James didn’t bother him. He knew that he should have been bothered, but he wasn’t.

He felt nothing about it.

“I’ve just been hanging out with Al’s family occasionally so James has started saying we’re dating,” Mila said slowly. “But we’re not. We’re just friends.”

“I know,” Scorpius said. “Albus told me earlier today you two had been spending time together with his family.”

Mila tilted her head. “And you’re okay with that?”

Scorpius shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me.”

“Oh,” Mila said. Mila looked at him and bit her lip, clearly confused by his reaction. “I’m surprised you seem so…calm and cool about it. I remember how jealous you got when you found out I snogged Morgan Thomas when we were broken up that it actually led to you breaking up with me a second time.”

“Do you want me to break up with you?” Scorpius asked slowly.

“No,” Mila responded. “I just…expected more of a reaction from you.”

Scorpius shrugged. He didn’t have any explanation for why he didn’t have more of a reaction. But he looked at Mila, who clearly wanted him to have some sort of reaction about it, that he did something he was hoping not to do in this time around in their relationship.

Lie to her.

“I’m just trying to be better and not have such strong reactions,” Scorpius lied. “Isn’t that a part of this whole trying it again thing. Not to have such strong reactions?”

Mila looked at him, biting her lip and Scorpius knew in his gut that she didn’t believe him. Mila was smarter than that and knew when he lied, she always had. He was expecting her to call him on it.

But instead, she nodded, simply saying “okay”, before giving him a hug.

As Scorpius hugged her, he couldn’t help but continue to look at the faces of people passing by, hoping to see the face he had tried not to look for all night.

* * *

Scorpius walked outside a few hours later, enjoying the warm summer night and that the crowd was much thinner outside. Mila had gone to the bathroom, so Scorpius decided to take that opportunity to sneak outside for some fresh air.

He ignored the part of him that told him that maybe Rose would be outside.

Scorpius walked around, nodding at a few people he recognized from school, not even realizing where his feet were taking him until he was already there.

He stood behind the tree where just eleven months before he had kissed Rose for the first time. Scorpius came here after Graham struck a nerve, saying he was only trying to be a better friend and surround himself with better friends until Mila let her back into his bed again.

Scorpius couldn’t help but wonder if Graham felt right when he heard Scorpius and Mila were back together again. If he said “I told you so” to Rose who had defended him that night.

Scorpius smiled, thinking about that.

Rose had been so naïve; she hadn’t understood why Graham was being more confrontational with Scorpius. But Scorpius knew. All it took was one look for Scorpius to realize that Graham fancied Rose.

And for a few moments, Scorpius actually felt victorious that Rose had chosen him to be with.

What a false sense of pride it all was. When just weeks after their second attempt at a relationship, Rose chose Graham. Even at Inez’s birthday party, when she admitted that she was still in love with Scorpius, she chose Graham.

And Scorpius had been left pining ever since like a fucking simp.

Despite himself, Scorpius looked over at Rose’s house, his eyes wandering up to the window he knew was hers. The light was on and the windows were open, shadows moving across the wall telling him that someone was in there.

He took a few steps closer, no longer hidden under the tree. He wondered if she was getting ready to come to the party; it was a cousin party after all. It was a requirement she make an appearance.

Scorpius knew he should have told himself not to hope to see her, he had a girlfriend, he should go back inside and find that girlfriend and be better for her, but instead he found himself still looking up at Rose’s window.

Moments later, Rose came to the window, a hand on the curtain ready to close it before she stopped, looking down at Scorpius.

Scorpius was taken aback by her eye contact and the fact that she could see him standing here, looking at her room like a creep. He was sure she was going to looked freaked out; what was he thinking standing here looking up at her room? What girl wouldn’t freak out by seeing their ex standing there.

But Rose, her hair in a French braid and in her summer jammies (a loose tank top and cotton shorts) smiled down at him, holding her hand up to wave. Scorpius waves back, unable to stop the smile from appearing on his face.

Scorpius then points at her and then points at the Potter house, trying to ask if she was coming to the party. Rose frowns looking on him so he repeats the gesture, until she perks up when she gets it.

“Scorpius, there you are!”

Scorpius looked over at where he heard his name called and saw Mila walking towards him. Scorpius felt his stomach dropped and hated the immediate annoyance that came over him at her arrival. He quickly looked back at Rose and saw that she was looking at Mila as well, only this time with a frown.

“I think I’m going to go,” Mila said when she reached him. Scorpius noticed that she seemed very irritated by something and was working very hard to be neutral.

“Are you okay?” Scorpius asked.

Mila let out a breath, like she wasn’t sure how she was going to answer.

“I…I just want to go,” Mila said. “The music is too loud and I don’t know anyone…Al is being a tool too…and I just want to go.”

“Okay,” Scorpius said, slowly, realizing she was probably telling him this because she expected him to come with her. “Well, I’ll need to grab my jacket—”

“I don’t want you to come with me,” Mila interrupted.

He gave her a confused look. Never, once in their relationship did Mila ever leave a party alone. She always insisted that Scorpius come with her and while this could be a part of her ‘trying to be better’ Scorpius couldn’t ignore something in his gut that told him her leaving and not wanting Scorpius to come had nothing to do with him.

“I just want to be alone,” Mila said. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, avoiding her eyes. “I’ll see you later, Scorp.”

“Bye,” Scorpius said, frowning as she walked away.

Although he knew what was awaiting him, the small glimmer of hope caused him to look up at Rose’s room. Like he expected, Rose was no longer standing there, the curtains drawn and somehow, Scorpius felt like he had his answer to whether Rose was coming to the party.

* * *

“Where did you disappear to last night?” Albus said, walking into the kitchen where Scorpius was doing the dishes.

He paused, looking around the kitchen, which was cluttered with cans and bottles when he went to bed and now was spotless.

“Did you clean in here?” Albus asked.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Scorpius said, shrugging. “And I didn’t disappear last night. Not that I’m surprised you didn’t notice.”

“What?” Albus asked.

“You sitting on the loveseat, snogging Sarah the whole night,” Scorpius said. “I’m surprised your lips aren’t swollen this morning.”

“Ha ha,” Albus said, grabbing coffee and sitting at the table. “You’re hilarious.”

Scorpius dried his hands and sat down across from him.

“So,” Scorpius said. “Did James in fact get you laid like he said he would?”

Albus took a sip of coffee. Scorpius pulled his wand out and charmed a cup to come over to him full of coffee.

“No, I didn’t sleep with Sarah,” Albus said.

“Why not?” Scorpius asked, although he already had an inkling he knew why. “You two have before, right?”

Albus nodded at Scorpius’s question.

“I don’t know why I couldn’t last night,” Albus said looking down at his coffee. “It just didn’t feel right when I don’t feel the same about her anymore.”

Scorpius nodded, understanding what Albus was saying.

“It’s okay,” Scorpius said. “To feel the way, you do about her.”

Albus looked up at him, clearly wondering which ‘her’ Scorpius was referring to and Scorpius raised one eyebrow at him. Albus let out a breath.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Scorpius said. “Can’t be mad at you for feeling the way you do. Little mad at you for not telling me.”

“Why?” Albus asked.

“Because maybe then some decisions would have been made differently,” Scorpius said.

Albus scoffed. “Right.”

“Hey, I would have taken your feelings into account in my decision making,” Scorpius said.

Albus gave him a look. “You don’t even take your own feelings into account in your decision making.”

Scorpius blinked at him. “What does that mean?”

“Why don’t you tell me where you disappeared last night?” Albus said with a knowing look.

“I just went outside,” Scorpius said, shrugging.

“And more than likely you stared at Rose’s house like the pining fuck you are,” Albus said, smirking at Scorpius.

Scorpius shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Right,” Albus said, snickering.

A moment of silence came over them, Albus sitting there with a cheeky grin and Scorpius, trying to think of what to say to tell Albus he was wrong.

But he wasn’t wrong. Scorpius did go and stare at Rose’s house like a pining fuck.

And he spent all night wondering what would have happened if Mila hadn’t shown up.

“It’s okay,” Albus mumbled.

Scorpius looked up at him and gone was the teasing grin and in its place was a sympathetic look.

“What’s okay?”

“To feel the way you do about her,” Albus said.

Scorpius frowned. “I don’t know if it is when I have a new girlfriend.”

Albus nodded. “Well, I don’t know if it’s okay for me to feel the way I do about your girlfriend. So maybe we both have some things we need to figure out.”

Scorpius sighed, unsure of how to stop feeling the way he did about Rose when he wasn’t exactly sure he wanted to.

* * *

Scorpius walked down Diagon Alley, seeing that Inez had decorated the Apothecary with blue signs saying “Midsummer Night Release Party July 15th” in celebration of the release of her new skincare line that was targeted towards skincare during the hot and humid summers.

The party was a marketing scheme put together by Mila, who had invited many people to come, including many people who work at _Witch Weekly,_ in hopes of them spreading the word of the store and skincare line.

Scorpius entered the store, seeing Mila in a green dress, organizing the goody bags that included free samples and information on the mail in orders.

“Hey,” Scorpius said, walking over to her.

“Hi Scorp,” Mila said, barely looking at him as she frowned at a piece of tissue paper that wasn’t fluffing the way she wanted.

Scorpius wrapped his arms around her from behind, so as not to get in the way of her work, and gave her a small kiss on the neck.

“Give me one second,” Mila said, continuing to poke the tissue paper over and over until, finally she decided it was okay.

She turned in his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning up to kiss him before pulling away quickly.

Scorpius pulled her back and kissed her again, deeper. Mila giggled and pulled him closer, kissing him back.

Since his conversation with Albus, Scorpius had been trying to make more of an effort to focus solely on Mila and have his affections closer on Mila. The past week, he had been more touching, loving, and supportive than he had ever been in a relationship with Mila. He was pretty sure that Mila was enjoying the extra affection as well. He definitely felt that he was more connected to Mila than he ever had been and found himself enjoying the relationship a lot more, but a part of him almost felt like he was faking it all, just going through the motions of what a good boyfriend would do instead of actually wanting to do those things for Mila.

Mila pulled away first, looking up at him. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Scorpius said. “Do you need any help?”

“Not here no,” Mila said, looking over everything. “Could you run into the back and check with Inez though? Make sure she’s started getting ready?”

Scorpius nodded and leaned in for another kiss, but this time, Mila dodged it.

“Scorp, I have to work,” she said, giggling.

“Okay,” Scorpius said, letting go of her. “I’ll go check on Inez.”

“Remind her that she has forty-five minutes!” Mila said as Scorpius walked away.

Scorpius made his way behind the counter and pushed the curtain aside, before taking a step in.

“Inez?” Scorpius said.

“I’m almost done I swear—oh, it’s you.”

Scorpius looked towards where Inez’s voice came from, from her bottle station where she had tons of bottles she was working on filling and putting the caps on. Inez looked at him before frowning and looking back at her bottles.

“Do you need help?” Scorpius asked, walking towards her.

“Not from you,” Inez said pointedly.

Scorpius frowned at her. “Pardon?”

“You know you really had me fooled Malfoy,” Inez said, turning to face him.

Scorpius took a step back, the fire in her eyes making it very clear that she was pissed. And she was pissed at him.

“For the past few months, you had me thinking that you were a stand-up guy,” Inez said, jamming lids on the bottles. “But then, I heard something about you that makes me completely change my thoughts on you.”

“And what is that?” Scorpius asked, feeling nervous for the answer.

“Rose told me what you did to her,” Inez said, staring at him hard. “She told me everything. How you and her were together in August last year and at the start of this year. How you refused to go public with her. How you then cheated on her, with my cousin. And of course, how even when she is dating another guy, you tell her you love her and want to be with her, trying to get her to leave Graham only to then start dating Mila once Rose is single!”

Inez put the cap on the last bottle before looking at him again.

“Are you trying to make me hate you Malfoy?”

“No,” Scorpius said.

“Well, you’re doing a fucking good job of it,” Inez said. “I mean, I finally start to forgive you for all the shit you have put Mila through for years, _years_ Malfoy, and suddenly I find out that you were an absolute shit to one of my best friends as well! And that’s not even talking about the fact how you’re still in love with Rose yet you’re dating Mila!”

Scorpius stood there, speechless.

“H—how do you know that?” Scorpius asked her.

Mila tilted her head at him, her eyes fierce. “I’m not an idiot, nobody looks at a bottle of face cleanser that romantically and then steals it for no reason.”

Scorpius gulped, remembering the bottle of cleanser that now sat on top of his dresser.

“And then, I ask Rose why the hell you would act so weird about her and suddenly I find out that you were the love of her life and I never even knew it!”

Scorpius’s eyes snapped up at that, his stomach tightening at Inez’s words.

Was he really the love of Rose’s life?

“And yet, you’re still dating my cousin,” Inez said. “My sweet cousin who has gone through so much pain because of you and yet, here you are doing it again to her.”

“I’m not trying to hurt her—”

“Well, you’re being incredibly unfair to her,” Inez said. “She does not know what she is signing up for in dating you.”

“How does she not know?” Scorpius asked.

“Does she know you’re still in love with Rose?” Inez shot back. Scorpius broke eye contact. “That’s what I thought. That’s not fair. And Mila and Rose deserves better.”

Inez took her apron off, throwing it in the laundry bin before storming to the hallway that led to the staircase to their apartment, clearly going to get ready.

Scorpius took a deep breath, rubbing his eyes for a minute as Inez’s words processed in him.

Inez was right. Scorpius was being unfair to Mila by not being transparent with her about his feelings.

Scorpius made his way back towards the curtain, pushing it aside slightly but stopping when he heard voices arguing on the other side.

“Albus I don’t have time for this,” Mila said and Scorpius could see her moving around the store and Albus following her.

“Well, when do you have time?” Albus asked. “Because you don’t seem to want to talk to me at all anymore and I feel like I deserve a fucking explanation.”

“What do I need to explain to you?” Mila asked, turning towards Albus. For the first time, Scorpius noticed that Mila looked somewhat short compared to Al, who was a few inches taller than Scorpius was. “I don’t think I have to explain my dating choices when you were too busy snogging whoever the fuck that was last week?”

“Oh, give me a break, you have absolutely no right to be upset with me about Sarah after what you did,” Albus said, shaking his head.

“I didn’t do anything—”

“You got back together with Scorpius while we were sleeping together!” Albus said and Mila sucked in a breath, almost like she was avoiding the truth.

Scorpius meanwhile, stood up straighter as the words sunk in. He knew that Al had feelings for Mila but…they were sleeping together? When?

And suddenly all the clues like Mila’s rumpled clothes and hair, Albus putting a pillow over his lap, Inez saying they did more than rub elbows, and Mila spending time with his family all came crashing down onto him and suddenly he felt like the dumbest bloke in the world.

Inez was right. He is an oblivious idiot.

“We weren’t exclusive Al; I didn’t owe you—”

“Yeah, you didn’t owe me anything but you at least could have told me instead of making me hear it from my mum,” Albus said. “Mila my whole family thought we were dating. Do you not realize how humiliating that was for me to have my mum ask me why the girl whose apartment I’ve been at every night was suddenly dating my best friend?”

Mila took a deep breath and Scorpius could tell she felt guilty. She was avoiding Albus’s eyes and rolled her fists into balls and he was sure she was digging her fingernails into her palms, one of her tricks to keep from crying.

“And then you yell at me at my brother’s party last week when you see me talking to Sarah, say how unfair it is for you…as if you didn’t so something worse,” Albus said. He looked at her, almost pleading for her to look at him. “You spent so much time telling me everything that was wrong in your relationship with Scorpius and you were wrong for each other. You told me that he never understood why you were so intense and constantly told you to calm down. And then you go back to him?”

Mila looked at Albus, wiping her eye. “No one likes how intense I am. Erica tells me to calm down all the time. I’m sure that how intense I am will be an issue for every guy I date for the rest of my life.”

Albus looked at Mila then shaking his head.

“I like how intense you are,” Albus said. “I’ve always liked that about you. But we aren’t arguing about that.”

“Well, what the fuck are we arguing about?” Mila said. “Because I have a party in thirty minutes and I don’t have time to do this with you.”

Albus sighed and then looked back at her, and Scorpius almost thought that he looked a little defeated.

“You just should have told me about Scorpius, Mila,” Albus said simply. “That’s it. I deserved that much.”

Mila took a shaky breath before speaking.

“Scorpius just feels…unfinished,” Mila said. “I can’t explain it but I…I need to explore what’s there. I still love him okay?”

Albus nodded. “I understand that and respect it. But I didn’t deserve to be treated the way you treated me.”

Al started walking away from her and Mila called after him.

“Aren’t you staying for the party?” Mila asked him.

“No,” Albus said with a dark chuckle. “I don’t really want to be around you right now.”

Albus made his way to the door but before he walked out, he looked back at Mila.

“I hope you find whatever you’re looking for with Scorpius,” Albus said before walking out the door.

Mila put her hands to her eyes and Scorpius heard her take a deep breath in, clearly trying to hold herself together. She looked up, continuing to take her deep breaths, stopping when she saw Scorpius standing where the curtain is.

She stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to say.

Given what he had just heard and his own conversation with Inez, he said the only thing he thought seemed to be appropriate.

“We should probably talk.”

Mila nodded in agreement. “Can it—can it wait until after the party? I worked so hard…”

Scorpius walked towards Mila, pulling her into a hug.

“Of course, it can,” Scorpius said, giving her a small kiss on the head as she cried into his shoulder.

* * *

Thanks to Mila’s careful planning and strategic invitations (as well as Inez’s creations) the party was a hit. A reviewer from _Witch Weekly_ came and was raving about the products, buying a few and saying that she was going to talk to her editor about doing a whole piece on Inez’s store, saying that it was impressive that someone could create such wonderful products and own a store at 18. Inez was clearly flattered, yet excited, and went on to dazzle a few more reviewers and photographers, explaining her process to people and recommending products for specific people.

Mila acted as hostess, greeting everyone and making sure they had their drinks full, ensuring that they grab the goody bag and telling them to take cards and sign up for the owl list if they were interested in product updates.

The whole time, Scorpius was always right besides Mila, either holding her hand or having his hand on the small of her back, offering her the support he could tell she needed. It was obvious by her obsessive tinkering of everything and the fact that she had started asking him multiple times if things looked okay, if she handled an interaction well, if she should do anything else, that she was feeling off her game.

Scorpius had a feeling that Albus had something to do with that.

“Have a good night and thank you for coming!” Mila said, waving as a woman and her daughter left the party.

Mila leaned closer to Scorpius, wrapping her arms around his middle and resting her head on his shoulder.

“Am I doing okay?” Mila asked.

“You’re doing great,” Scorpius said. “Stop doubting yourself.”

Mila looked at him, reaching up to kiss him. As soon as their lips touched, a flash of light went off and they both looked towards it to where the _Witch Weekly_ photographer was standing, looking at them with an apologetic grin.

“Sorry,” she said. “You both are just so stunning and such a cute couple. I couldn’t resist.”

Mila gave a tight smile, before turning around and adjusting a display on the shelf behind her.

“Well, I guess it’s good that I may not have to deal with that anymore,” Mila whispered.

“Mi, come on,” Scorpius said quietly. “There’s only a few people left. We’ll talk once they leave.”

Mila nodded, turning back around and turning her hostess face on, a happy grin, ready to help anyone that needed it.

What felt like almost too quickly, the store was empty and Inez came over, giving Mila a hug.

“We did it!” Inez said. “Mi, that was amazing. You went above and beyond.”

“You really did,” Scorpius said, agreeing with Inez.

“Thank you, but Inez really, you did great,” Mila said. “If you didn’t make such wonderful products and also dazzle everyone you meet, this never would have gone as well.”

Inez squealed, giving Mila another hug.

“I’m going to clean up, but I’ll be up soon okay?” Inez said. She turned away, giving a quick glare at Scorpius before she went.

Mila frowned, looking after Inez. “Did she just glare at you?”

“Yeah,” Scorpius said. “I’ll explain upstairs.”

Scorpius held Mila’s hand and Mila squeezed his hand before heading upstairs and going into her room, closing the door behind them.

“Do you mind if I change first?” Mila said, motioning to her green dress.

Scorpius nodded. “I’ll change too.”

Mila went to her closet, pulling out her pajamas while Scorpius went over to her dresser, opening a drawer that Mila had set aside for him after they got back together a few weeks before. He pulled out a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, taking off his slacks and button up shirt. He turned around and saw Mila, now in an oversized tee and cotton shorts, putting her hair up in a messy bun.

Scorpius smiled at her. “Not sure how you manage to look beautiful in pajamas, but you do Mi.”

Mila chuckled. “Scorpius, I think that’s the nicest way you have ever started a break up with me.”

Scorpius frowned at her. While he had been the one saying they need to talk, he wasn’t planning on a break up. He hadn’t really come up with any decision about their relationship, hadn’t even thought of it as a decision that needed to be made.

“Is this a break up?” Scorpius asked.

“I mean, I kind of figured after what you heard today, you’d want to break up with me,” Mila said, going over to the bed and sitting down.

Scorpius walked over, sitting next to her on the bed.

“I think we have a lot to talk about because I’m not sure either of us were upfront with our feelings at the start of this thing,” Scorpius said.

Mila sighed. “No, I don’t think we were.”

Silence fell over them, Mila leaning back against the pillows. Scorpius moved so he was next to her and Mila grabbed his hand, starting mindlessly tracing over it.

“I do love you,” Mila said softly. “I always have. You’re one of the people who knows me best in the world.”

Scorpius nodded. “I feel the same way about you.”

“But when we got back together it may have had less to do with you than I thought,” Mila said. “I thought I wanted to be with you but I think I may have actually just wanted something familiar. Something safe and steady.”

Scorpius frowned looking at her. “You thought our relationship was safe and steady? Mila, Rita Skeeter stopped writing about our relationship because she couldn’t keep up with whether we were dating or not.”

“You know what I mean,” Mila said. “I wanted something I knew. And I know you and I know me and I know that we could have been great together and had a great relationship if we both just tried harder and adjusted some things about ourselves. So, I figured, let’s try it again. Trying something again and working to perfect it is much better than trying something new, so let’s try this again.”

Scorpius nodded. “So, the something new…was Albus?”

Mila bit her lip, pulling Scorpius’s arm over her legs as she started tracing his arm.

“I really liked him Scorpius,” Mila said quietly. “It was so easy to hang out with him and no matter what we had fun together. His family is incredible and welcomed me with open arms, literally. I don’t think I was hugged more than at their house. And Albus was just incredible. So much more incredible than I ever thought he could be. And that scared the living shit out of me.”

Scorpius looked towards Mila, letting him use his arm as a stencil, since he knew that she was unable to sit still. She was focusing on his arm, as if nervous to look at him.

“Why did that scare you?” Scorpius asked softly.

“Because I’ve only had feelings, real feelings, for you,” Mila admitted. “I was comfortable with that. At first, I thought the thing with Al was just physical but I don’t think it ever was. I think I always had feelings for him, it just took a while for me to admit to myself.”

Scorpius nodded, turning on his side and resting his forehead on Mila’s shoulder.

“And that scared me,” Mila said quietly. “As Al and I got closer and I started spending more time with him and his family I started realizing that I wanted more than just something physical with him. I wanted a relationship with him. But then my anxiety creeped in, reminding me that I had felt this hopeful before we started dating and all that allowed for was for us to hurt each other over and over again. So, I decided that it wasn’t worth the risk.”

“And you came back to me,” Scorpius said softly. “To perfect our relationship instead of letting a new person hurt you.”

Mila nodded, resting her head on top of his. “I know what it feels like to hurt you and be hurt by you. As awful as it is, I’m used to it. I’m comfortable with it. I figured you were the better option instead of getting hurt worse by someone new.”

Scorpius nodded. “I understand.”

Mila adjusted herself so she was lying beside him, facing him.

“Do you hate me?” Mila whispered with a nervous look on her face.

Scorpius gave her a caring look. “I could never hate you, Mi.”

Mila gave a sad smile. “I think I hate me a little. I just feel guilty.”

Scorpius pushed a stray hair out of her face and then cupped her cheek.

“Mila, you never, ever have to feel guilty about our relationship,” Scorpius said softly. “You have feelings for another bloke. I could never hate you for that.”

Mila smiled giving a little kiss to the inside of Scorpius’s palm. She looked down.

“And you still have feelings for another girl,” Mila said quietly.

“What?” Scorpius said, wide eyed. While he was planning on talking to her about his feelings for Rose, based on Inez’s reaction he thought Mila didn’t know about them.

Mila looked back up at Scorpius, giving him a small smile.

“You still have feelings for Rose,” she said simply. “You don’t need to look so shocked. I’ve known ever since we got back together.”

“H—How?” Scorpius asked.

“You talk in your sleep,” Mila said. “In the rare moments you sleep, you tend to mumble some things.”

“What do I say?”

“’Rose’,” Mila said softly. “Just her name, nothing more. You did it the first night we were together. Although I suspected, that confirmed to me that you weren’t quite over her.”

Scorpius nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Mila said with a smile. “What was it you said? Not to feel guilty about our relationship? That applies to you too.”

Scorpius studied Mila for a moment, believing her words.

“I meant when I told you I love you,” Scorpius said quietly. Mila gave him a little smile. “I really did want to make this work. I just…don’t think that loving you matters if I’m not in love with you.”

Mila nodded in agreement. “I agree. I’m not in love with you either. I’m not in love with anyone. Unlike you.”

Scorpius said nothing, giving Mila a nervous glance.

“It’s okay, you can admit it,” Mila said with a smile. “I know that you already consider her the love of your life, so you can admit to being in love with her.”

“Okay,” Scorpius said quietly. “I’m sorry about that by the way.”

Mila shrugged. “Don’t be. It hurt at the time and it still stings but if anything, it just lets me know that you probably aren’t the love of my life either. And that’s okay. It doesn’t mean we didn’t love each other for a while. We probably just weren’t right for each other.”

Scorpius grabbed Mila’s hand squeezing it.

“I do want you to be happy,” Scorpius said.

“I want that for you to,” Mila said. “And if it’s Rose…well, I learn to be okay with it.”

Scorpius chuckled. “You mean you’ll finally get over that grudge of yours?”

“I suppose I will have to learn to be okay with the fact that she seems so effortlessly perfect yes,” Mila said, sighing.

“Is that really why you disliked her?” Scorpius asked.

Mila looked down, as if embarrassed.

“Yes,” she said quietly. “It’s why I disliked all the Potter and Weasley family. They all seemed so perfect and happy. Rose seemed the most perfect of all and it just…fed my own insecurities. It was easier to say that I disliked her than admit I was jealous of her.”

Scorpius nodded, pulling Mila closer to him so he could hug her. He felt her push herself closer to him, putting her nose to his chest and wrapping her arms around his middle, holding him close.

They stayed like that for hours, holding each other and officially marking the end of their relationship. It felt like the most genuine thing the two of them had done since they had gotten back together.

Mila was right. That was the nicest way that they had ever broken up.

And when Scorpius had left the next morning, all of his clothes he kept in Mila’s dresser in a bag, Scorpius finally felt like that chapter of his life was over and there were new chapters to be written, chapters that he hoped included Rose in them.

* * *

A few days following their break up, Scorpius found himself sitting at Albus’s kitchen table, staring at a photo of him and Mila from the Midsummer Launch Party, kissing and then the image ripping itself down the middle as the words “Scorpius and Mila break up again!” shine next to them.

“Well, obviously the Prophet is devastated about your break up,” Albus said.

Scorpius shrugged. “It’s a small piece. This is nothing. I’m still nursing the wounds from when we broke up the first time. Skeeter was brutal.”

Albus laughed slightly and sat down, handing Scorpius a butterbeer.

“How are you doing?” Albus said, nodding at the picture. “With the break up and all the press associated with it.”

Scorpius took another glance at the paper; the words _Was Malfoy the heartbreaker once again_ popping out at him before he looked back at Al.

“I’m fine,” Scorpius said, shrugging. “Not the first time we broke up.”

“Probably won’t be the last either, knowing you two,” Albus said, with a smirk, though Scorpius could tell it was somewhat forced.

Scorpius however, stared at him seriously.

“No,” Scorpius said, shaking his head. “This was the last one.”

Albus dropped his smirk for a more focused look. “You really believe that?”

Scorpius nodded. “Hard for us to be together when we both aren’t in love with one another. That’s not exactly the best foundation.”

Al gave Scorpius a sad smile. “I’m sorry, Scorp.”

“It’s okay,” Scorpius said, to which Albus gave him a questioning look. “Really it is. While we’re going to take space away from each other, we agreed we want the other in our life. Just not in the way either of us thought.”

“So, you’ll be friends?” Albus asked, furrowing his brows. Clearly, Albus agreed with what Skeeter had written that day that friendship between the two could never happen.

“Yeah,” Scorpius said. “We’re going to take some time apart, let each of us adjust and move on but then yeah. The hope is we’re friends.”

“Hmmm,” Albus said, taking a drink of his butterbeer. Albus looked over Scorpius’s head almost in thought and Scorpius got the feeling that Albus was wondering the same thing that he had been wondering the past few days: if it was even possible to be friends with Mila after all they had been through.

Scorpius looked down at the bottle in his hand, frowning. He hadn’t spoken to Mila since they had broken up and to be honest, it was odd. While it had only been a few days, he had gotten used to talking to her and being with her when he wasn’t at work. Now, he spent so much time alone that he had way more time to think.

And he wasn’t exactly sure he liked that.

While he had spent time with his dad the past few days, his father was always the more reserved of the two of his parents, meaning a lot of their time together meant that they read in the same room. While they would talk occasionally, it was then that Scorpius realized that his mother really had been the outgoing one of his parents, pulling his father out of his shell. Although the time with his father had been nice, Scorpius was longing for more social interaction. He felt grateful when Al asked him to come over that day, even if he had a sneaking suspicion Al only invited him over after reading the paper and wanting to check on him.

He had thought about reaching out to Mila, but she had been firm on needing some space from him and not just immediately jumping into friendship. Inez, he was still sure was pissed at him; Declan was in Ireland and barely had time to write, let alone be okay with Scorpius visiting; Erica he knew was with Mila and they had never hung out without a third-party present. He had planned on writing Al later that day but Al had beat him to it.

And of course, because he was Scorpius Malfoy and apparently was the type of guy to pine, he had thought about writing to Rose. Writing her to tell her that he and Mila broke up. That he wanted to see her. That he missed the way they used to hang out last summer, before anything even happened between them.

That he missed _her_.

That was, arguably, the biggest thing to come out of his break up with Mila. While he knew that he had feelings for Rose, he hadn’t exactly realized how much he missed her until he could no longer distract himself with Mila’s company. When he was hanging out with Mila, he could focus all his attention on her and while there were lingering feelings for Rose, he didn’t miss her quite as much. Now though, he missed her more than he ever thought he could.

“What are you thinking about?” Albus asked, pulling Scorpius from his Rose filled thoughts.

“Nothing,” Scorpius said quickly. Too quickly, obviously, since Albus raised an eyebrow.

“Does nothing have red hair?” Albus asked.

Scorpius frowned at him. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay,” Albus said, nodding.

“Why don’t you share what you were thinking about?” Scorpius said with a mischievous grin.

“Nothing,” Al said, slitting his eyes.

“Right, nothing, who happens to be about this tall?” Scorpius said, gesturing with his hand to Mila’s height. “Works in the apothecary? You were apparently shagging her at the start of summer?”

Albus let out a breath. “I see she told you.”

“Something like that,” Scorpius said shrugging figuring it was better for Al to believe Mila told him than that Scorpius was eavesdropping on their argument.

Albus pursed his lips. “I’m sorry.”

Scorpius frowned. “Why are you apologizing?”

“Because I was shag—”

“Listen mate, you have nothing to apologize for,” Scorpius said. “So long as both of you were consenting adults, you don’t have to apologize. If anything, I feel like I should apologize to you.”

“What are you on about?” Al asked, giving Scorpius a bewildered look.

“You and Mila were hooking up, really essentially dating is my understanding, and I was too dumb to notice,” Scorpius said. “And I didn’t exactly hesitate to get into a relationship with her. Didn’t even consider that you might have feelings for her.”

“I don’t have feelings for her,” Albus said and Scorpius gave him a look. Albus sighed. “Scorp, you don’t need to apologize. We already talked about this. And what happened with Mila and I…it’s in the past.”

Albus looked down at the article at a picture where Mila stood alone laughing at something off camera.

“Right,” Scorpius said, resisting the urge to snort. “That’s why you’re sitting there staring at her picture and showed up at the party to tell her you didn’t deserve to be treated the way she treated you. Because it’s ‘in the past’. Trust me mate, if it was in the past you wouldn’t be pining the way you are.”

“Malfoy, you are hardly one to talk about pining,” Albus said with a knowing look.

Scorpius let out a short, dry laugh, shaking his head. He wanted to deny it, tell Albus he was wrong, but he knew that would just be ignoring the truth. It had been over a year since he had sat in Rose’s kitchen, talking to her about summer plans and teasing her by saying she was flirting with him, but Rose had appeared to taken up a permanent place in his mind since that day, no matter how hard he tried to fight it.

He gave Albus a sad smile.

“Yes well, it takes a sad, pining bloke to know one,” Scorpius said, picking at the label on the bottle. “Here’s to hoping you don’t pine nearly as long as I do. I’m probably bordering on pathetic territory.”

Scorpius felt Albus’s gaze on him, studying him.

“Have you talked to her at all?” Albus asked, although Scorpius suspected he already knew the answer.

“No,” Scorpius said flatly. “Besides a few quick run ins at parties this summer the last time we had a full conversation was at Inez’s party when I wanted to get back together and she rejected me.”

“Ah,” Albus said, nodding. “That’s a very one-sided way of looking at it.”

“How else should I look at it?”

“Well, you kind of put Rose in a tough spot,” Albus said shrugging. “She was already with someone else. Even if she didn’t love him, she cared for him a lot and he was one of her closest friends. And suddenly you were saying you were in love with her and asking her to be with you and she felt conflicted and blind sighted. You didn’t give her proper time to react and think about what you were asking.”

Scorpius thought about this. “I suppose your right. Not that it necessarily made a difference.”

Albus made a noise of protest, causing Scorpius to give him a confused look. Albus shrugged before giving Scorpius a look that tight smile.

“Look, I would tell you mate, but I don’t think it’s my place,” Albus said, taking a swig of butterbeer. “Just…your perception of your words not having an effect on Rose is misguided.”

Scorpius frowned at Albus. “You want to share anything?”

“Oh, trust me, I would love nothing more than to share,” Albus replied. “But I can’t. It’s not my place to share. You’ll need to talk to Rose on that one.”

Scorpius let out a laugh.

“Right, I’m sure that will be easy to talk to her,” Scorpius said, shaking his head. “Since when I saw her at Mila and Inez’s housewarming, she looked at me like I made her sick and when I saw her at James’s party—”

“Wait,” Albus said, frowning and leaning forward. “Rose didn’t come to James’s party. She was supposed to come after her dinner with her parents but she never showed.”

Scorpius took a deep breath, unsure how to tell this story without sounding like a total creep.

“Well, she wasn’t exactly _at_ James’s party,” Scorpius admitted. “I was at James’s party. She was in her room.”

Albus frowned even deeper. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I was outside and she came to the window and saw me—”

Albus smacked the table. “I knew you went outside to stare at her house!”

“I did not go outside to stare at her house,” Scorpius said defensively. “I went outside to go outside and just ended up looking at her house when she looked out.”

“Right,” Albus said, nodding, though Scorpius could tell Albus didn’t believe him. “Sure, you did.”

“ _Anyway_ ,” Scorpius said with a sigh. “She saw me and waved. And I waved back. I was trying to ask her if she was coming to the party but before she could respond Mila came to talk to me and when I looked back up at her room, Rose had drawn her curtain.” Scorpius shrugged. “It’s not exactly like we had a great conversation. I kind of got the feeling she wasn’t coming to the party after that.”

Albus just laughed slightly, shaking his head at Scorpius with an amused look on his face.

“She was supposed to though Scorp,” Albus said. “Hugo had come and said Rose would be over after she changed, but the she never showed.” Albus gave Scorpius a smirk. “She was supposed to come to the party. But then she saw you and specifically you and Mila and suddenly she didn’t show up. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out, Scorpius.”

Scorpius gave Albus a look not quite wanting to believe what he thought Albus was saying.

“Look, that’s as much as I’m telling you,” Albus said shrugging. “Just talk to her. You may think that she just ignored what you said at Inez’s party but…I think you’re forgetting that Rose needs time to think about things sometimes.”

Scorpius nodded, though he didn’t know if he fully trusted what Albus was saying.

He told himself that he would talk to Rose. Find out what Albus meant. Find out why Inez said that Scorpius was the love of Rose’s life.

Find out if the hope that was bubbling inside of him at Albus’s words was for a good reason.

Scorpius looked down at his butterbeer, telling himself that he was going to talk to Rose. Even though the thought made his stomach drop, he was going to do it.

* * *

Two weeks had past and Scorpius still hadn’t talked to Rose.

He had wanted to. He had thought about how the conversation would go constantly.

But he couldn’t quite pull the trigger on actually talking to her.

There were a few actual reasons for this.

He and Rose hadn’t spoken in months. He wasn’t exactly sure it would be okay for him to show up at her house and ask what exactly Al meant.

He did not know what Rose’s schedule was like. He didn’t want to show up at her house and her not be there, only to end up waiting there for hours while sitting with Rose’s dad beating him at Wizard’s Chess over and over again.

He didn’t exactly know what to say. He felt that showing up with no plan was not the way he wanted to go. He wanted to be smooth when he saw her. Have a plan. Prepare himself for every possible outcome.

And of course, the final reason he didn’t go talk to Rose for two weeks after his conversation with Albus: Scorpius was terrified of what she may say.

While he knew how he felt about Rose, he wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted her to feel anymore. If she felt the same about him that he did her, would she want to be in a relationship? Or would she not want to be together after everything that had happened between them? Or, worst of all, did she have feelings for him but meet someone else?

Scorpius wasn’t sure he could handle getting rejected by her again.

Scorpius’s avoidance had not just extended to talking to Rose, but to Albus as well. After their conversation at Al’s house Al had wanted to talk about little else with him. He just kept pressuring Scorpius to talk to Rose and to make it a priority; her healing apprenticeship was going to start soon. Both Albus and Scorpius knew that if he didn’t speak to Rose before it started, there was a chance that he would miss his window of opportunity to fix things between him and Rose.

Scorpius had, to the best of his ability, tried to loop conversations about talking to someone back to Albus and Mila, but Albus always dodged the conversation. Mila was insisting that she still needed time away from Scorpius, otherwise he probably would have bothered her about it too, as well as asking her opinion on talking to Rose.

So, in order to dodge Albus’s nagging, he had begun avoiding him, meaning his days were once again spent in solitude or in shared silence with his father.

Albus, to his credit, seemed to respect Scorpius’s decision, writing him about other things such as Quidditch or what was happening in his Auror program. Al hadn’t mentioned Rose at all in his letters until a few days prior.

_Scorp,_

_Rose got into the St. Mungo’s Healing Apprenticeship. She starts August 25th._

_Her parents are throwing her a party on August 1 st to celebrate her acceptance._

_If you want to talk to her, come to the party. Even if you don’t talk to her, I think she’d like your support. She found out your dad said some kind words about her to the Apprentice Head._

_So, come to the party. Talk to her or don’t. It’s your call._

_-Al_

Which is why Scorpius was now sitting at the breakfast table on August 1st, watching his father go through the mail, trying to find an opening to talk to him.

Draco had just finished separating the paper when Scorpius finally spoke.

“Hey dad,” Scorpius asked, somewhat unsure. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course,” Draco said, picking up some sections of the paper. “What’s on your mind?”

“Did you give Rose a recommendation for the Apprentice program?”

“Not a formal recommendation, no,” Draco said. “The Foundation does so much work with St. Mungo’s, that I know Susan Bones. I saw her at an event and she mentioned that she was heading the Apprenticeship program and I just mentioned Rose and her studies. How kind she is. That sort of thing.”

“That’s very generous of you,” Scorpius said. “Especially since you don’t know her well.”

Draco sighed. “No, no I don’t. But your mother was very fond of Rose.”

Scorpius looked at his dad, watching him carefully. Since her death, Draco hardly mentioned Astoria, especially not to Scorpius. Scorpius knew that it was hard for Draco, even all these months later, to talk about his wife.

“Your mother spoke very highly of Rose,” Draco said thoughtfully. “Your mum has done so much work at St. Mungo’s for the Foundation that she felt in her gut that Rose would be an excellent addition there. Your mother wanted to put the word in herself but...” Draco cleared his throat. “When the opportunity arose, I felt that I owed it to your mother to pass on her thoughts at Miss Weasley.”

“Well thank you, Dad,” Scorpius said. “I don’t know if it made a difference, but I’m sure Rose appreciated it.”

“Oh, I doubt it made a difference,” Draco said, shrugging. “Your mum made it sound like Miss Weasley could do anything.”

“Yeah,” Scorpius said softly, finding himself agreeing with his mum.

“Besides, Miss Weasley already has sent me a thank you card for my words,” Draco said. “So clearly, your mother’s instincts about her were right.”

Draco gave a small smile and for once, Scorpius noticed that it didn’t have the sadness that had haunted his smiles since Astoria died.

“Your mother’s instincts are always right,” Draco said, with a twinkle in his eye, as if he were remembering all the times that Astoria had ever been right about things.

Scorpius gave a sad smile. He missed his mother. It was times like these, when he felt torn, that he really wished he could have spoken to her.

“Well son, I’m going to go into the office,” Draco said. “I am expected in a meeting to discuss the Foundation financing a new healing potion.”

“Should I be in that meeting?” Scorpius asked.

“No, it’s alright,” Draco said. “I got it. Enjoy your day off.” Draco stood, grabbing the business section of the _Prophet_. “I’ll leave the rest of the paper to you?”

Scorpius nodded and reached over to grab the paper and the mail himself, giving his dad a wave as he left the room.

Scorpius started sifting through the paper, glancing over each page quickly to see if anything caught his interest before moving onto the next page. Scorpius had gotten to the gossip section, and almost skipped it altogether, but something was there that made Scorpius do a double take on the page.

He pulled the paper out of the pile and looked at it more clearly, feeling somewhat in shock of what he was seeing.

There was a large picture of Mila and Albus walking hand in hand through Diagon Alley. In the picture, they kept looking at each other, laughing, and Albus would bring Mila’s hand up to give it a kiss.

Scorpius looked at the article next to it, reading the words as he put the pieces together in his head.

**_New Couple Alert! Albus Potter and Mila Torres spotted getting cozy in Diagon Alley_ **

_Earlier this week, the investigative reporter Rita Skeeter was in Diagon Alley, buying some new books from Flourish and Blotts when she saw something that nearly knocked her off her feet._

_Albus Potter, son of savior of the Wizarding World Harry Potter, was walking by holding the hand and kissing a girl._

_Not just any girl though._

_The girl in question is Mila Torres, partner of Torres Apothecary in Diagon Alley, and known ex-girlfriend of Scorpius Malfoy. Her and the Young Malfoy have had an on and off relationship for the past 4 years, the most recent romp ending only a few weeks ago._

_Mila being spotted out with Albus Potter is the first time either her or Scorpius has been seen with another love interest. While I previously reported that there were whispers of an affair between Scorpius and Rose Weasley, daughter of Ron and Hermione Weasley, there was never any confirmation. Mila and Albus however, are confirmed._

_It was hard to ignored how enamored the two were in each other; it was as if no one was around them. They kept pulling to the side of the Alley to sneak kisses and Mila was giggling the whole time._

_When I reached out to the Potter family to comment, I was pleasantly shocked to actually receive a comment in return. As many readers know, the Potter family has a standard “no comment” policy on rumors._

_Yet on this one, they stated that Mila and Albus were just starting to date and focusing on getting to know each other. The source said that Mila and Albus are very happy with the new step in their relationship._

_The last statement, is obvious. I don’t think at any point in time during her relationship with Scorpius Malfoy that we ever caught Miss Torres giggling like a school girl, despite the fact that she was one._

_While it are still many questions (how did this happen? How did Scorpius, Albus’s close friend, handle the news so quickly after his own break up with Mila? Who made the first move?) it is clear that the two are very happy and that we have a new couple to root for._

_As for those questions, don’t worry; I will make sure I get them answered for you._

Scorpius looked at the picture again, wondering how in the world he missed another relationship change with one of his male friends.

They really needed to communicate better.

Scorpius’s eyes wandered over to the photo of Mila and Albus. Skeeter was right; Mila looked absolutely giddy in the photos and Albus was looking at her like she hung the moon.

And despite the fact that Scorpius knew he should feel something (confusion, jealousy, maybe even anger) he couldn’t help but smile. It was so clear that they were happy. And it was clear to him that, at least right now, Mila was finally getting the partner she had always wanted Scorpius to be.

Scorpius went upstairs to his room, pulling out a piece of parchment and sitting down to write a note.

_Mi,_

_I know you want space and I don’t want to disrespect that, but I just had to say one thing._

_I saw the Prophet. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look so happy._

_I’m happy that you took a risk. You and Albus are lucky to have each other._

_Love,_

_Scorp_

Scorpius put his note in envelope, writing Mila’s address before wandering around the house to find an owl, attaching the letter and sending it off.

* * *

Scorpius had not been expecting a response back from Mila, especially only a few hours after he had sent it.

But there the Malfoy Owl was, sitting on the porch with an envelope attached, Mila’s neat and precise handwriting clearly shown.

_Scorpius,_

_Thank you for respecting my space. Also, you’re right, I am happy._

_I want you to be this happy. Albus told me that he told you to talk to Rose._

_Do it. Go to the party and talk to her and find out if anything is still there._

_Trust me, it’s better than always wondering._

_Love,_

_Mila_

_P.S. I’m ready to be friends again._

* * *

Scorpius stood on the road, looking at Rose’s house in front of him.

To be honest, even though he had thought about seeing Rose again, actually _talking_ to her again, for weeks (months if he was totally honest), he still didn’t have much of a plan.

He could hear the music playing. He knew by the loud voices, that it was clear that Rose’s parents had invited her whole family as well as many family friends. It was starting to get dark, but it was clear that the party wasn’t even close to settling down.

From the outside this party almost seemed to rival James’s parties.

Scorpius took a deep breath, walking closer to the door and standing on the door step.

This was the last time that he would have to wonder what it would be like to see her again. No matter how this went, he wouldn’t have to wonder anymore.

Of course, that meant that he actually had to knock.

Scorpius took a deep breath, telling himself that when he counted to three, he would knock.

However, before he reached three, the door opened and he was suddenly facing bright red hair.

“Malfoy!” Hugo said, giving him a big grin. “Long time no see!”

Scorpius smiled. “Hi Hugo.”

“Well come on in,” Hugo said, motion for Scorpius to come in. “I was going to head outside for a bit; we’re running low on butterbeer and as the youngest one who can Apparate, I’ve been told that’s on me.”

Scorpius nodded, taking a moment to look around, trying to find Rose.

“Foods over there,” Hugo said, pointing into the living room. “Drinks are right by it. Al is around here somewhere.”

“Okay, Scorpius replied. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Hugo said. “Well, I’m off. See you in a bit.”

Scorpius waved as Hugo shut the door before turning back towards the packed house. He started walking towards the food, keeping an eye out for Al or Rose, or literally anyone that he knew.

Scorpius couldn’t help but feel slightly out of place. Everyone around him was hugging and chatting as if they had known each other for years. Which was probably true.

Scorpius smiled as he saw a _Congratulations Rosie!_ banner hanging above the food. He looked at the food, grabbing a strawberry and popping it in his mouth.

“Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in.”

Scorpius looked at where the voice had come and saw Inez standing there, staring at him with a smirk on her face.

Scorpius swallowed. “Inez.”

Inez smirked at him. “Are you worried I’m going to yell at you?”

“Slightly,” Scorpius said. “The last time we spoke you were a little upset with me.”

“Rightfully so,” Inez said, with a pointed glance, which caused Scorpius to nod. “However, given the fact that you and Mila are no longer dating and Mila is dating someone else and happy…I think I forgive you.”

“Really?” Scorpius asked, raising his eyebrows.

“It’s not exactly like Mila was upfront with her feelings with you either, I learned,” Inez said. “Apparently her feelings for Al were more than the physical thing she led me to believe.”

“Oh, come on, you had to know it was more than that,” Scorpius said.

“I suspected,” Inez admitted. “But I chose to trust her. A foolish mistake.”

“One not to happen again I’m sure,” Scorpius said.

Inez nodded. “Maybe. We do crazy things for the people we love right?”

Scorpius hummed in agreement, his eyes looking over Inez’s head, trying to find Rose.

“Like you coming here to tell Rose you still love her,” Inez said, causing Scorpius’s eyes to snap back to her.

“I—I’m not—”

“You can cut the rambling, Mila told me,” Inez said. “Listen, I know I just found out what happened between you two a few weeks ago but…if she gives you another chance, make sure you deserve one okay? Don’t fuck her over again.”

Scorpius nodded, feeling slightly bewildered. “I wasn’t planning on it.”

“Good,” Inez said smiling. “Now let’s go.”

Before Scorpius could ask where they were going, Inez grabbed his hand and started pulling him outside. Scorpius, who easily had a foot on Inez, was so busy admiring her strength that he didn’t even notice what she was pulling him towards.

“Look what I found!” Inez said as they approached the group.

“Scorp!” Al said, raising his hands up almost in victory.

Mila, who sat on Al’s lap also gave Scorpius a big wave and pointed to smile, which Scorpius ignored. Layla saluted to Scorpius while next to her Graham, gave Scorpius a stiff nod before looking across from him as if gauging the person’s reaction who was sitting there.

Scorpius followed Graham’s gaze to the loveseat across from him and saw Rose sitting there, with her eyes starting at him in bewilderment as if she couldn’t believe he was standing there.

Scorpius held up a hand, giving a quick wave to everyone there. Inez went and squeezed next to Layla, meaning that the only seat left was next to Rose.

Scorpius cleared his throat, walking over to it and sitting down.

Al, ever Scorpius’s best friend, quickly asked Layla how Quidditch training was going, and Scorpius snuck a look at Rose. Rose was looking down at her hands, her brows furrowed, clearly deep in though.

“Hey,” Scorpius said quietly.

Rose looked up at Scorpius, her face softening as she gave him a small smile.

“Hi,” she said quietly.

“I hope it’s okay that I’m here,” Scorpius said. “Al invited me—”

“Of course, it’s okay,” Rose replied. “I—um—I…It’s nice to see you.”

Scorpius smiled, unable to hide the happiness at hearing her say those words.

“It’s nice to see you too,” Scorpius said back. “Congratulations, by the way.”

Rose’s cheeks turned pink. “Thank you. I still can’t believe it.”

“I don’t know why,” Scorpius said softly. “I told you last year you would easily get in. They would have been mad not to accept you.”

Rose gave him a small, bashful smile, before looking away, listening to Layla explain the drills she was doing. Though Scorpius knew that he should have looked away, he found himself still looking at Rose.

Looking at her, Scorpius felt his stomach tighten. In the night time light, just the glow of the lights from the house shining, Scorpius had a flash back to the same night the year prior. That same night, she had been sitting with him outside under a tree, the faint glow of the house lighting up enough to see her before he kissed her for the first time.

He remembered thinking that it was the first of many times that night.

He had, in fairness, been right, but it wasn’t nearly as many times as he thought it would have been.

“Hey,” Scorpius said softly, nudging Rose. She turned and looked at him. “Can we talk?”

Rose nodded and stood up, leading the way. Mila watched Rose walk away and gave Scorpius a look that told him not to fuck it up, while Al gave him a thumbs up. Scorpius ignored them, following after Rose, feeling the glances of Rose’s friends follow after him.

He followed Rose to where a gate was and she unlocked it. Scorpius held the door open for her and followed her in, looking around at all the plants.

“It’s mum’s garden,” Rose said, following Scorpius’s gaze. “She locks it so that no one comes in here during parties. I guess one-time Uncle George got a little drunk and ruined her tomatoes, so now she locks it so that people don’t come in.”

“Couldn’t they use Alohomora?” Scorpius asked.

“Mum used a muggle lock and charmed it so it wouldn’t open with that,” Rose said. “The only way to get in is the muggle way. Apparently, that’s too difficult to figure out when you’re drunk.”

Scorpius smiled. “Smart.”

Rose nodded in agreement, not responding. Scorpius watched her, as she looked around the garden. Before he could say anything, Rose took a deep breath in, giving him a serious look.

“I’m sorry about Mila,” Rose said, breaking the silence. Scorpius gave her a questioning look. “About your break up. And now she’s dating Al. I can’t imagine that’s easy for you.”

Scorpius shrugged. “It’s fine. Honestly I’m happy for them.”

Rose frowned at him, looking at him confused.

“Really?” she asked. “I mean you guys were together not to long ago. It’s okay if it stings a little.”

“I know,” Scorpius said with a smile. “But trust me, it doesn’t sting. Our relationship this summer wasn’t anything serious. It was one last summer thing before we said goodbye for good. Just a fling.”

“Like us,” Rose mumbled, kicking the dirt with her foot.

Scorpius looked up at her, his eyes soft.

“You were never just a fling,” Scorpius said quietly. “No matter what I said…you were always more than that to me.”

Rose looked at him, biting her lip and Scorpius could tell she was questioning whether to believe him. But then she nodded as if understanding him.

“You were never a fling for me either,” Rose said. “Last summer…I know I said it was a fling but it wasn’t. I was just…”

“Trying to protect yourself?” Scorpius asked with a knowing grin. Rose nodded with a small smile. “I understand.”

Rose looked at him, and Scorpius could have sworn he saw something pass through her eyes before she looked past him where all the party noise was coming from.

“So, Al invited you?” she asked, returning her gaze to him.

Scorpius nodded. “Yeah. He, ugh, he thought there were some things we should talk about.”

Rose let out a laugh.

“He’s been telling me the same thing too,” Rose said. “Never going into specifics, just saying we need to talk.”

“Yeah, it’s been a little annoying,” Scorpius said with a grin. “I’ve had to start avoiding him because he would talk to me about little else.”

Rose laughed slightly, nodding her head in agreement.

“Me too,” Rose said. “I was very happy when Mila showed up and started stealing all his time away. Made him far less of a nuisance.”

Scorpius felt his stomach flutter, seeing Rose look at him with a smile, a real, genuine smile, on her face for the first time in months.

Merlin, he had missed her.

“I’m sorry,” he said suddenly and Rose’s face shifted to a questioning look. “I’m sorry for everything that I put you through. For making you be private, for being a dick at the end of our relationship, for trying to get you to leave Graham…” Scorpius winced at the next one. “For cheating on you. I’m so sorry for all of it.”

Rose gave him a sincere look and sad smile, taking one step closer to him.

“Thank you,” she said softly, as if she couldn’t believe she was hearing it. “I…appreciate you saying that. I figured that you were sorry but it’s nice to hear it.”

Scorpius matched the step she took and took another step too, making it so that if he wanted, he could easily reach out and touch her waist.

“I really mean it,” Scorpius whispered. “It’s not an excuse but I was so fucking stupid. My mum’s death messed me up and I didn’t handle everything well.”

“No, you didn’t,” Rose said quietly.

“And as for what I said at Inez’s party…I was out of line,” Scorpius said, studying her face.

Rose frowned, pursing her lips as she studied him.

“You were with Graham and you seemed happy, it wasn’t fair of me to ask you to leave him,” Scorpius said. “It wasn’t fair of me to ask for another chance when I was the one who screwed us up in the first place.”

Rose gave a small nod, agreeing with him and it was then that Scorpius realized that what he was saying was true.

It was unfair for him to ask for another chance. Even though she wasn’t with Graham, it was still unfair of him to ask for another chance with Rose.

He had fucked up their relationship. He didn’t deserve to ask for another chance.

Scorpius hadn’t even realized that was what he was planning on doing until it dawned on him that it was unfair. Rose was going to start her apprenticeship at the end of the month and really start living her life. The last thing that she needed was Scorpius.

Scorpius gulped then and took a step away from her. Rose’s frown deepened as she stared at him, clearly confused by the sudden shift in demeanor.

“So, I just wanted to apologize,” Scorpius said gruffly. “For everything I did. I promise, I won’t hurt you like that again.”

Rose stared at him, her gaze intense and Scorpius found that he hated the silence as she studied him, clearly going through her thought process. Scorpius would have done anything to have Rose asking him millions of questions, unable to resist her inquisitiveness instead of her silent staring at him.

Finally, Rose broke her gaze, looking at the ground for a moment before looking back at him.

“Is that all Albus wanted you to say to me?” Rose asked. If Scorpius hadn’t known better, he would have thought that there was an inkling of hope in her tone.

Scorpius pushed that idea out of his head, knowing that realistically there wasn’t anything in her tone. If there was hope, it may have been hope that this was the last conversation Rose would ever need to have with Scorpius.

“Yeah,” Scorpius said flatly. “With you working at Mungo’s now and the Malfoy Foundation doing so much work with the hospital I thought it’d be best if we…cleared the air. That way we can be colleagues.”

Rose shoulders fell at his words.

“Okay,” she said quietly. “Well thank you for apologizing.”

Scorpius’s heart was screaming at him, wanting to tell her that he was in love with her, that he wanted another chance, but instead he just nodded, clenching his hands into fists.

Rose gave him one last look, as if seeing if he was going to say anything else before looking at the ground and walking past him, back towards the door.

Scorpius closed his eyes, cursing himself and resisting the urge to call out to her. He stood facing away from the gate, not wanting to watch her walk away from him again, knowing that he had just blown his last chance of getting back together with her.

He knew it was the right thing to do though.

Rose deserved better than him.

Scorpius wasn’t sure if the gate had opened and closed, if Rose had left, but he opened his eyes, staring at the plants far in front of him, trying to get a grip on himself before he left the garden. He figured once he left the garden he would probably head back to his house. Maybe his father was home? Maybe they could read the paper together—

“I broke up with Graham because of you.”

Scorpius, who had thought he was alone in the garden, nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Rose’s voice, turning around and finding that she stood less than six feet away from him and only inches from the garden gate.

“Fucking Merlin!” Scorpius said, putting his hands to his head. “I thought you went back to your party.”

Rose didn’t say anything, didn’t even acknowledge the fact that she had nearly given him a heart attack and instead stared at Scorpius, her gaze intense and nervous as if she was scared of what Scorpius would say.

“I broke up with Graham because of you,” Rose said again, her voice shaking slightly. “Because of what you said at Inez’s birthday party. About how you wanted to give us another chance and how we could be better this time. I broke up with Graham because I wanted that. I wanted another chance with you.”

Scorpius stared at her, mouth agape, not fully believing the words he was hearing.

He had been right. Rose had broken up with Graham to be with him. Scorpius couldn’t believe that his wishful thinking based on one shared look with Rose had actually been true.

“I just needed time,” Rose said. “I needed to process and think about what I wanted. And no matter how hard I tried, I realized that I wanted you. It didn’t matter that Graham gave me the public relationship I wanted. I spent the whole time comparing him to you. I wanted us to get back together. I kept trying to work up the nerve to tell you, but I couldn’t. I would try and lose my nerve. And then we graduated and I barely saw you…and then I saw in the paper that you were with Mila. I figured I had lost my chance.”

Rose took a few steps towards where Scorpius stood, who was still frozen and processing her words.

“Ever since you and Mila broke up though, Albus has been insistent that I tell you how I feel,” Rose said. “And I understand and respect if you want to be colleagues and if Al just wanted you to apologize but I just needed you to know—”

Before she could finish and before Scorpius could even process what he was doing, he had taken the few steps forward, grabbed her face and pulled her into him, pressing his lips to hers. Rose melted against him, hands pulling his shirt as if trying to get him closer.

Scorpius pulled away first, resting his forehead against Rose’s as they caught their breath.

“I have missed you so much Rose,” Scorpius said breathlessly. “Mila and I broke up because I was still in love with you. I’ve been in love with you for the past year.”

Rose closed her eyes, breathing Scorpius in.

“I didn’t want to just be colleagues, but I thought it would be selfish of me to ask for anything more,” Scorpius said. “Trust me, Al was not a pain in my arse because he thought it might make work awkward if we didn’t talk.”

Rose laughed. “No that does not sound dramatic enough for Al to be a pain in the arse for.”

Rose looked up at him, her eyes full of adoration.

“It may be selfish for you to ask for anything more, but it’s not for me,” Rose said. She gave Scorpius a loving smile. “Do you want to give us another chance?”

Scorpius smiled at Rose, unable to hide the giant smile that came across his face.

“I want nothing more,” Scorpius said. He started giving her little kisses all across her face. “And I promise you to be better this time.”

Rose pulled his face away, holding it between her hands.

“Just talk to me and listen more,” Rose said softly. “And I’ll be firmer. It will take some work, but we can do it.”

Scorpius closed his eyes.

“Merlin, I love you so much,” he whispered.

“I love you too,” Rose said quietly, pulling him in for a kiss.

Scorpius and Rose stayed in the garden, snogging for all the time that they had missed, for a while before returning to the party, hand in hand. They made their way back to where their friends sat, which was met with whoops and applause from all of them, even Graham, who gave Scorpius salute, as if saying the best man won.

Scorpius sat down on the love seat they had previously occupied but instead of Rose sitting next to him, she sat right on his lap, letting her legs fall into her abandoned seat.

“Ew is this what we have to deal with now?” Inez asked, looking at Scorpius and Rose as Rose wrapped an arm around Scorpius’s shoulders.

Rose shrugged. “I’m just making up for lost time.”

“Booo!” Layla yelled. “It’s bad enough that Al and Mila snuck off we don’t need you guys being gross too.”

“Cut them some slack,” said, surprisingly, Graham. “It’s been like 20 minutes since they got together. If it’s still this way in a year, then maybe we stage an intervention.”

“Well, I’m going to go get food,” Inez said. “And hopefully not run into my cousin snogging someone. But hopefully run into all of Rose’s hot cousins.”

“Ew, none of my cousins are hot,” Rose said, scrunching up her face.

“Rosie, you are sadly mistaken,” Inez said with an evil grin. “Who knows? Maybe Louis and I will just happen to snog again.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me, I’m still scarred!” Rose said.

“Inez, you know who else is looking good? Freddy,” Layla said, nodding towards where Freddy stood next to the drinks.

“Not you too!” Rose said, putting her face against Scorpius’s head in defeat.

Layla and Inez giggled before heading off in the direction of the food table, flipping their hair as they approached it. Despite the fact that Rose was currently still hiding from her friends and clearly, disgusted, Scorpius laughed.

“Well,” Graham said, standing up as well. “I’m going to go too. I’m sure there is a cute girl I can chat with.”

“So long as she’s not related to me,” Rose said, her voice muffled by Scorpius’s hair.

“No promises,” Graham said. “Your Nana is looking awfully beautiful tonight.”

Scorpius laughed as Rose groaned. Graham meanwhile, sent them both a cheeky grin before heading towards where Inez and Layla stood flirting with Freddy.

“My friends are disgusting,” Rose groaned as she pulled away from Scorpius’s head.

“Hmm,” Scorpius said in agreement. “You know how you could get back at them? Snogging me.”

Rose laughed, giving Scorpius a loving look.

“I missed you so much, Scorpius,” Rose said quietly.

“I missed you more, Rose Weasley,” Scorpius said, as he leaned up and close the space between them.

Rose kissed him back and Scorpius couldn’t help but smile against her kiss.

Scorpius Malfoy decided that he was never going to allow himself to miss Rose Weasley the way he had missed her last few months again.

And every August 1st after that, as he watched Rose graduate from her apprenticeship, as they planned a wedding, as they became parents, Scorpius couldn’t help but be so grateful that he showed up at Rose’s party.

Because he never had to miss her ever again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is!!! The final chapter of the "we were something don't you think so?" series! I hope you all enjoyed it!
> 
> This has been such a fun series to write and such an interesting challenge for me as a writer! I hope that you all enjoyed this as much as I do.
> 
> Please let me know your thoughts by writing a comment or giving a kudos!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Happy New Year!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please kudos, comment, and bookmark if you enjoyed! 
> 
> Also was anyone else shook when Taylor dropped another new album this year?
> 
> Happy Holidays everyone!


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